This is a weird film that is hard to comprehend but being a fan of A24 movies, I loved it. The way the film looks, the way the film sounds, the way the film is extremely slow and yet somehow rarely boring; and the way the performances make something extremely silly into something that at least warrants some degree of serious thought. Although the new-born, Ada, is an unconventional child, the film and its characters don't act in a way that anyone in real life would. They treat her almost as a normal little girl, which my brain sometimes found difficult to understand. At one point in the film Ingvar's brother, Petur appears. At first it seemed as though he was going to be the voice of the audience and call out the ridiculousness of what was happening. But that's not the direction the film ultimately chooses to go. There's dramatic tension that occurs, but it's more human based. That said, the most sympathetic character for me was the mother sheep, who had had her child taken away from her. While Ada's arrival was a joy for Maria and Ingvar, for the mother sheep it was torture. Some of the reaction shots they get from the sheep (and also a cat and a dog) were surprisingly effective at conveying emotion. I don't know how exactly it managed to do that, but it did, and you'd have to give the film credit for that. As for the ending, the imagery is truly haunting. Overall, this is a kind film some will love it and some will hate it.
