The Other Lamb

The Other Lamb is a 2019 horror film directed by Małgorzata Szumowska and written by C.S. McMullen. It stars Raffey Cassidy, Michiel Huisman, and Denise Gough.

The Other Lamb
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMałgorzata Szumowska
Produced by
  • David Lancaster
  • Stephanie Wilcox
  • Aoife O'Sullivan
  • Tristan Orpen Lynch
  • Marie Gade Denessen
Written byC.S. McMullen
Starring
Music byPaweł Mykietyn
CinematographyMichał Englert
Edited byJarosław Kamiński
Production
companies
Distributed byIFC Midnight (United States) MUBI (United Kingdom)
Release date
  • 6 September 2019 (2019-09-06) (TIFF)
  • 3 April 2020 (2020-04-03) (United States)
Running time
97 minutes
Country
LanguageEnglish
Box office$7,385[2][3]

Plot summary

Selah is a teenage girl, living as part of a cult led by the messianic Shepherd, the only male in the cult. They live in abandoned buildings in the forest and tend sheep. The women are divided into two groups, the younger Sisters, dressed in blue, and the older Wives, dressed in red. As she matures, Selah has become more of a focus of the Shepherd's attention. She frequently wonders about her mother, who died giving birth to her.

One night, Selah overhears a police officer telling the Shepherd that they must leave. The Shepherd announces that he will be leading them on a journey to their new home. During the arduous journey, Selah begins to doubt the Shepherd's judgement. When she sees a car driving on a road, she has a fantasy of herself inside it, dressed as a normal teenager. During the walk, she befriends Sarah, one of the wives who is under punishment for an unspecified sin. Sarah tells Selah that her mother did not die in childbirth, but rather caught an infection and died because the Shepherd would not let her seek medical attention. Sarah admits that she has no faith in the Shepherd but stays because she has no place else to go. When Sarah has her first period, she must stay in isolation with Sarah because menstruation makes her "unclean".

The strenuous hike causes one of the wives to go into premature labor, and she dies in childbirth. After the funeral, Sarah tells Selah that she is leaving with the baby. The Shepherd had told them that the baby had to be left behind because it was "born wrong". Sarah reveals that it was a boy and the Shepherd wanted to leave it because "there can only be one ram in a flock".

The Shepherd gets angry at Tamar, one of the sisters, and hits her, further eroding Selah's regard for him. The group arrives at a valley with a large lake, which the Shepherd declares will be their new Eden. The sister's faith has been shaken by the journey, but the Shepherd rebaptizes everyone. That night, he comes to Selah's tent and has sex with her, an act she finds painful and off-putting. She fantasizes about the sisters killing the Shepherd.

The next morning, the sisters awake to find the wives missing. They go to the lake to find the Shepherd kneeling near the wives' robes. He tells them that the wives have ascended into a new life. Selah confronts him, telling him "You are not our shepherd". He smacks her and she hits him back. Some time later, police officers discover the bodies of the wives washed up on the shore of the lake. They also discover the Shepherd's dead body suspended between two trees, a pair of ram's horns placed on his head. The sisters, led by Selah, congregate at a waterfall.

Cast

Production

In February 2019, it was announced Raffey Cassidy, Michiel Huisman and Denise Gough had joined the cast of the film, with Małgorzata Szumowska directing from a screenplay by C.S. McMullen. Principal photography began that same month in County Wicklow, Ireland.[4]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on 6 September 2019.[1][5] Shortly after, IFC Midnight and Mubi acquired US and UK distribution rights to the film, respectively.[6][7] It was released in the United States on 3 April 2020 and was released in the United Kingdom on 16 October 2020.[8][9]

Reception

Box office

By the third week of its release, it was the third-highest grossing film in the United States with box office returns of $265 and $4,825 total.[10]

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 74% based on reviews from 91 critics, with an average rating of 6.68/10. The website's critics consensus reads "Smartly directed by Malgorzata Szumowska, The Other Lamb uses a young woman's coming-of-age story to explore the powerful hold cults can have on their followers."[11] On Metacritic it has weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on reviews from 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[12]

References
  1. "The Other Lamb". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  2. "The Other Lamb (2020)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  3. "The Other Lamb (2020)". The Numbers. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  4. Mitchell, Wendy (7 February 2019). "TrustNordisk boards Małgorzata Szumowska's 'The Other Lamb' (exclusive)". Screen International. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  5. Lang, Brent (23 July 2019). "Toronto Film Festival: 'Joker,' 'Ford v Ferrari,' 'Hustlers' Among Big Premieres". Variety. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  6. Wiseman, Andreas (10 October 2019). "IFC Picks Up North American Rights To TIFF Horror 'The Other Lamb' With Raffey Cassidy, Michiel Huisman & Denise Gough". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  7. Mitchell, Wendy (13 November 2019). "MUBI buys UK rights for 'The Other Lamb' (exclusive)". Screen International. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  8. Miska, Brad (27 January 2020). "IFC Midnight Sacrifices 'The Other Lamb' This April". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  9. "The Other Lamb". Launching Films. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  10. "Weekend Domestic Chart for April 17, 2020". The Numbers. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  11. "The Other Lamb (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  12. "The Other Lamb". Metacritic. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
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