A coastal Icelandic nine-year-old girl, who stole something not important enough to identify, is shipped off to inland cattle farmer relatives to learn... something. Perhaps her parents assume hard work and country living will teach better behavior and morals. Or maybe they just want to place her where temptation is limited and where bad role models are lacking. In such a place, the resulting story would be pleasant and boring. This wasn't that place.
The film's production is excellent. The acting is fine, demanding just enough from the young lead actress to demonstrate that her brooding, outwardly silent nature was a directoral choice, not a child's limitation. And although not terribly complex, the plots are intriguing enough, and at times uncomfortable enough, to keep your attention. The cultural disconnect between a city-reared child and a family that raises its animals for food elevates the tension.
Unfortunately, the motivation for some characters' actions was unclear. So was the symbolic link between real world events and a pair of independent but congruent fictional tales, one narrated by the girl and one written by the farmhand.
Vignettes such as The Swan often have less than satisfying closure, and this film was true to type. On the other hand, when this finished I wasn't shrugging with disinterest. Instead, the climax and denouement left me extremely discombobulated: the child's lesson learned is apparently not one of how the world should be, but to accept the worst aspects of how it is. Wow.
It's slightly frustrating, but worth watching.
