The Love That Remains

A tone switch for Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason – after man vs. nature historical drama Godland and psychological thriller A White, White Day – The Love That Remains brings humour and fantasy to a tender, inventive and surprising account of the end of a marriage and its effects within a family.

Filled with spectacular Icelandic landscapes, it introduces us to artist Anna (Saga Gardarsdottir) and fisherman Magnus (Sverrir Gudnason), their three children (played by Palmason’s own kids) and a scene-stealing family dog. Anna is certain about her break-up with Magnus; he is less so. He continues to return home when he’s not at sea, but his influence in the family is on the wane…

Over the course of a year, in a series of droll, thoughtful and surreal vignettes, Pálmason delivers an airy but aching study of marriage, family and the confusion and loss of separation.