A24’s Folk Horror Movie Starring Noomi Rapace Completely Reinvents A Classic Fairytale Trope

A24 is responsible for a number of the most haunting and thought-provoking movies of the last decade, none more so than 2021’s Lamb, which acts as a dark inversion of one classic fairy tale trope. Lamb stars Noomi Rapace as an Icelandic livestock farmer who, in the wake of the loss of her own daughter, adopts a bizarre human/lamb hybrid child with mysterious origins. While it’s classified as a folk horror movie, Lamb isn’t necessarily as scary as it is disturbing. In fact, it resonates more like an ancient fairy tale come to life in the modern day than anything.

Fan theories abound about Lamb‘s shocking ending, but no matter how a viewer interprets it, the story is rife with common fairy tale tropes. The Icelandic setting seems almost surreal and dreamlike, and haunting performances from Rapace as María and and Hilmir Snær Guðnason as Ingvar help to escalate the story from a mere cautionary tale into something more eerie. However, at its center, Lamb takes one popular fairy tale trope and turns it on its head, putting the viewer in an unfamiliar place when it comes to sympathy and perspective.

A24’s Lamb Put A New Spin On Classic Fairy Tale Tropes

One Common Folk Tale Theme In Particular Is Turned Upside-Down

Kidnapping is a common trope in fairy tales, particularly when speaking about actual fairies, as opposed to the more general phrase indicating a story that’s based upon imaginary characters or settings. Throughout much of European folklore, supernatural beings like fairies are said to steal children away from their homes and replace them with a being known as a “changeling”, which mimics the child but with some differences. The stories originated as a way to explain and describe children with developmental disabilities or neurological deficiencies long before such medical diagnoses were possible.

Perhaps the most famous example of a villainous kidnapper is in the story of Rapunzel, who is stolen away by an evil sorceress for her own benefit. No matter the story and no matter the culture, the common thread is that the kidnapper is seen as the villain, and the mourning parents are the victims. Lamb turns this trope on its head, giving the audience the perspective of the kidnappers.

María and Ingvar are not the biological parents of Ada, the human/sheep hybrid child, and yet they take her to raise in place of their own deceased daughter. It’s made clear that the ewe who gave birth to Ada wants her back, and is eventually killed by María to silence her. Ingvar’s final confrontation with the Ram Man, Ada’s biological father, is depicted as a terrifying attack by a monster, when in reality it is simply a father taking back his daughter from her kidnappers. It’s a complete reversal of the audience’s typical perspective in fairy tales involving kidnapping.

Why Lamb Is Worth Watching For Fans Of Fairy Tales

It Is Truly A Fantasy-Forward Movie, Even If It’s Classified As Folk Horror

The very concept of a human/sheep hybrid is certainly fantastic, and immediately takes the movie from the plane of reality into the realm of imagination. Fairy tale enthusiasts will again appreciate the Icelandic setting, with its rolling post-volcanic hills and windy meadows. The final confrontation between Ingvar and the Ram Man plays out in graphic nature, but detached from the violence, it’s a story resolution very reminiscent of a fairy tale, complete with a role reversal and a lesson implied. In the case of Lamb, it’s a metaphor about the acceptance of loss and facing grief head-on.

Why Lamb Is One Of Noomi Rapace’s Best Movies To Date

It’s One Of The Most Acclaimed Movies In Her Filmography

While Lamb has developed a cult following in the three years since its release, it is no B-movie that conjured unforeseen popularity. Lamb was an official selection of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, and was Iceland’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards that year. The film received widespread acclaim from critics, and many singled out Noomi Rapace’s performance as the element that elevated the odd, unsettling narrative into something that truly sticks with the viewer after watching.

It’s fair to consider Lamb one of, if not the very best of Noomi Rapace’s movies, both by caliber of the film and by the caliber of her performance in it. Lamb is one of only five movies in her filmography with a Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and represents her second-highest-rated movie since 2014 with an 86% on the Tomatometer. While the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer isn’t the final word on a movie’s quality, it does provide a useful guideline on whether a movie was well-received by critics, and with ratings that high, it’s clear that Lamb is among Rapace’s very best movies.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes