Director: Valdimar Johannsson
Starring: Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snaer Gudnason, Bjorn Hlynur Haraldsson, Ingvar Eggert Sigurosson
Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Runtime: 106 mins. Reviewed in Oct 2021
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan

| |

Rating notes: Strong violence

A couple unable to have children discover a newborn on their farm in rural Iceland. They tend to its needs, but their bond with the creature ultimately leads to the end of their own relationship. The film explores events in dramatic thriller, supernatural-horror mode.

This multinational, subtitled film – from Iceland, Norway, Poland and Sweden – tells the story of a childless couple. Husband and wife live and work on a deserted farm in rural Iceland, and they discover a strange newborn in their sheep barn, which they raise as their own. The film premiered in the ‘Un Certain Regard’ section of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, and took out its Prize for Originality. It is the first feature film for Swedish director Valdimar Johannsson. Noomi Rapace takes one of the two main roles, and was Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish movie series that included The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009).

Maria (Rapace) and Ingvar (Gudnason) live an almost wordless (though caring) existence in an environment that is austerely beautiful. Maria yearns to be a mother, but such is not possible, and the absence of a child, who can be cared for with affection, is felt deeply by both Maria and her husband. One day, they make an alarming discovery in their farm of an unnatural looking newborn infant ­– a hybrid that is neither lamb nor human, one that has the body of a baby and the head of a lamb. The couple adopt the creature as their own, and they name it ‘Ada’. Maria becomes totally devoted to Ada. She and Ingvar find fresh love, happiness, and new meaning in their life together with Ada, a name they have used before.

It is hard to type this movie. First, it has a comic thrust that stems from seeing Ada dressed as a human, and treated as such. Second, it provides a thoughtful meditation on parenthood and the human need for caring and belongingness. Third, the film has shades of a Nordic horror tale, inspired by Icelandic folklores that readily embrace weird-looking humans, and unusual creatures.

The real originality of this movie stems from the fact that it is a coherent piece of cinema that can be considered at each of these three levels, or all three of them at the same time. The interactions across the three levels are intricate, absorbing, and complex. The sheep on the farm disapprove of what Maria and Ingvar are doing and are unhappy that Maria and her husband are raising one of their own kind – they watch (and wait). A visitor to the farm, Ingvar’s brother (Haraldsson), is bewildered by the couple’s parental behaviour, and he becomes an external threat to what is taking place. Viewers are exposed to human-like behaviour in Ada, that facilitate thoughts about the meaning of good parenthood and reactions to it. This is an unsettling and haunting film that interweaves the humorous, the improbable, the disturbing, and the absurd.

The film is a complex metaphor on life and parenthood, that assumes a definite suspension of belief. Ada represents ‘a new beginning’ to Maria and Ingvar. Ada, however, is the unintentional instrument of the destruction of their relationship. This is a highly inventive film that builds solid tension by putting humour, drama and unexpected events at the centre of absurd imagery.

The film is a Gothic, bizarre fit with the horror genre. Raising Ada as a human, ultimately leads to a tragic, inevitable end to the relationship between Maria and Ingvar, but what happens is entirely dependent on compelling fantasy that director Johannsson has intentionally created to structure the viewer’s feelings and thoughts about parenthood. The film has stunning cinematography, and the wild isolation of the Icelandic countryside seems almost perfectly suited for ancient mythology to reveal itself in weird, disturbing ways. The film has excellent special (animal) effects that are particularly effective in the film’s climatic scene, which firmly emphasises the relevance and significance of the supernatural. This is a highly original film in the horror genre. It holds solid tension creatively throughout, and is well directed and acted.