The Other Lamb(2020)

Plot Summary

• In a remote forest commune, Shepherd leads an all-women cult of "wives," "daughters," and female children. Selah, who was born into the cult, longs to be chosen to "receive Shepherd's grace" as she repeatedly spies him selecting a wife for sex each night.New wife Eloise tells Selah and another teen girl about her intimacy with Shepherd. Selah expresses jealousy, causing a fight with the other teen over disobeying Shepherd's teachings. As punishment, Selah is sent to deliver leftover food to a hut where Sarah, a former wife who fell out of favor with Shepherd, stays with menstruating cult members, who are seen as "impure" because of their bleeding. Sarah insultingly warns Selah that Shepherd won't be as enamored with her after she too experiences menstruation.Selah spontaneously slaughters a lamb out of frustration when she finally has her first period. However, Selah keeps her menstruation secret and tells the wives as well as her friend Tamar that a wild dog killed the lamb when she fell asleep on watch duty. Shepherd forgives Selah, although she privately worries about being impure.A police officer comes to the commune to warn Shepherd that they must vacate the land. Shepherd begins leading the cult on foot through the countryside in search of a new camp. Shepherd continues to charm Selah, but she begins having nightmares of slaughtered lambs and bleeding between her legs.Claiming it is a broken place made by broken people, Shepherd refuses to let Selah and the others stay in a dilapidated cottage. After spending the night with Shepherd, one of the wives shows Selah a hand print wound on her neck. Selah also fantasizes about a life outside of the cult.Selah is forced to walk with Sarah when the other women discover she is menstruating. Selah asks what happened to Sarah. Sarah explains that her physical scars were punishment for her vanity. Although Selah remains skeptical, Sarah goes on to claim Shepherd's grace is glorious at first, but eventually burns.Selah asks about her dead mother, who was friends with Sarah. Sarah tells Selah that her mother didn't actually die giving birth like Selah was told. Rather, she died from an infection that Shepherd insisted was a test of faith while refusing to take her to a hospital.Selah asks Sarah why she doesn't leave. Sarah confesses she is afraid and doesn't know who she is anymore because she has been in the cult for so long.Pregnant wife Adriel dies in childbirth. After the others burn her body, Shepherd insists on abandoning the baby with Adriel's ashes because it is a boy. Blaming Shepherd for Adriel's death, Sarah decides to take the baby. Before leaving the cult, Sarah reminds Selah that she and her sisters are strong.Shepherd beats Tamar when she claims to see a place where they can rest in the distance. Selah privately tells Tamar that she didn't deserve to be humiliated in front of everyone like that.The cult finally makes camp at a lakeside that Shepherd names Eden. Shepherd baptizes Tamar and Selah.Shepherd chooses Selah to lay with him that night. Selah resists when Shepherd chokes her by putting his hand in her mouth during sex.Afterward, Selah dreams of ravenously devouring Shepherd with the other women. She then tells the others a motivating fable about rebellion, even though Shepherd forbids storytelling.The daughters wake in the morning to discover Shepherd drowned all of his wives. Shepherd claims it was necessary to give the older women eternal life and promote the daughters to become his new wives. Selah refuses to accept Shepherd. Shepherd slaps her and she slaps back.Two police officers later find the drowned women. They also discover Shepherd's naked and bloody body tied between two trees. (thanks to culturecrypt)

Storyline

• Life with Shepherd is the only life Selah has ever known. Their self-sufficient community possesses no modern technology, and is hidden away in the woods, far from modern civilization. He is the group's guardian, teacher, and lover. Each of the many female members of the group is either his wife or daughter. Selah is pure in faith, but also dangerously headstrong. She was raised as a daughter of Shepherd, but it is only a matter of time before she also stands to become a wife. As an encounter with the authorities forces the women and Shepherd to build a new Eden further inland, Selah increasingly doubts her faith, and has strange, bloody visions. The onset of puberty brings with it harsh new rituals, and her first shocking glimpse of what happens to Shepherd's women as they age. — Toronto International Film Festival