Review: 'Lamb' is a dark, sometimes surreal tale of loneliness and parenthood in the Icelandic hills

Proving that the midnight sun produces some dark thoughts, the Icelandic drama “Lamb” is a consistently absorbing and sometimes disturbing tale of an unsettling family dynamic.

Maria (played beautifully by the Swedish star Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) are a married couple having a largely happy existence running a sheep farm in the remote hills of Iceland. They drive the tractor, check on their herds, and handle the routines of farm life. They have no children, but there’s some sadness in their demeanor that suggests this wasn’t always the case.

One day, while checking on the pregnant ewes in their flock, one of the ewes falls over. Maria and Ingvar help with the birth, and notice something unusual about this particular little lamb. Maria wraps the lamb in her coat, takes it into the house, and sets about trying to feed and care for this baby creature — treating it very much like a human child.

This goes on for some time, until tending to their new lamb — whom they call Ada — becomes one more part of the routine. It only seems strange when Ingvar’s brother Pétur (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson) makes an unnanounced visit to the farm family.

First-time director Valdimar Jóhannsson sets “Lamb” in a stark landscape, and the bleakness of the environment is a somber backdrop for the serious — one might say “creepy” — events happening before our eyes. There’s an austere beauty in this place, and that beauty helps Rapace (the original “Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) and Guðnason bring the humanity to this surreal scenario.

Jóhannsson and his one-named co-screenwriter Sjón — an Icelandic poet and frequent collaborator with Björk — spins this story into directions most viewers won’t see coming. With sparse dialogue and the deceptive simplicity of folk tale, Jóhannsson deftly captures the primal fear of parenthood: The feeling you’re not in control.

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‘Lamb’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, October 8, in theaters. Rated R for some bloody violent images and sexuality/nudity. Running time: 106 minutes; in Icelandic, with subtitles.