OVERLAY REPORT

In the film *Lamb* (2021), the most crucial action made by the lead character, **Maria** (played by Noomi Rapace), is the **premeditated killing of Ada’s biological mother**, an aging ewe (often identified by the tag number 3115). ### The Crucial Action: The Killing of the Ewe After Maria and her husband Ingvar "adopt" the human-sheep hybrid Ada and begin raising her as their own child, the biological mother (the ewe) remains a constant, haunting presence. She stands outside their bedroom window, bleating relentlessly for her child. The most pivotal moment occurs when Maria, driven by a mix of maternal insecurity and the trauma of having previously lost a human child (also named Ada), decides to eliminate the "threat" to her newfound happiness. She takes a hunting rifle, goes outside, and **shoots the ewe in the head**, subsequently dragging the carcass to a remote spot on the farm to bury it in a shallow, unmarked grave. ### Who Helped Her? Maria performs this action **entirely alone**. * **Ingvar’s Role:** While Ingvar is her partner in the initial "theft" of Ada (they both decide to take the hybrid from the barn and raise it), he is not involved in the execution or the decision to kill the mother sheep. Maria acts on a solitary impulse after a disturbing dream, seeking to "solve" the problem of the ewe’s presence without consulting him. * **The Witness:** Although she receives no help, the action is witnessed by **Pétur**, Ingvar’s brother, who has just arrived at the farm. He watches her bury the sheep from a distance, a secret he later uses to blackmail her. ### Why This Action is Crucial This murder is widely considered the film’s "point of no return" for several reasons: 1. **Retribution (The Ending):** The film’s climax—in which a "Ram Man" (Ada's biological father) emerges from the wilderness to kill Ingvar and take Ada back—is framed as a direct "eye-for-an-eye" consequence of Maria’s choice. Maria took a child and killed a parent; the Ram Man responds by taking the child and killing the "father." 2. **Moral Transgression:** Critics and the actress Noomi Rapace have described this as Maria’s "unforgivable sin." It shifts her character from a grieving mother seeking healing to a "human interloper" who violates the laws of nature. 3. **Thematic Resonance:** The act symbolizes the human tendency to exploit and dominate nature for personal emotional fulfillment, regardless of the cost to the natural world. While Maria and Ingvar’s **initial decision to adopt Ada** was a joint effort that set the story in motion, it is Maria’s **solitary act of violence** against the biological mother that serves as the moral and narrative catalyst for the film's tragic conclusion.