THE LOVE THAT REMAINS

The new film by Hlynur Pálmason (“White, White Day”, “Godland”) combines Nordic restraint and a huge dose of inimitable, northern humor. It is a story about the breakup of a family, a surprising hybrid of emotions and styles: it is intimate and melancholy, but at the same time full of momentum; extremely affectionate, but at the same time mocking and slapstick. Pálmason paints the bardo of life — the state of suspense in which his characters find themselves: a married couple and their three children. Magnus is a sailor on fishing vessels, and Anna is an artist dreaming of a career breakthrough. Each of them tries to glue the family together on their own, but it is Magnus who feels the one thrown overboard. The study of separation is an opportunity for Pálmason to look — with irony and tenderness — at men, drifting, lost, looking for new roles for themselves. Navigating between the seasons (the film depicts a full year in the family's life), portraying the harsh landscape of Iceland, obsessively looking at machines, the director flawlessly finds visual equivalents of emotional and existential upheaval. This poignant and irresistibly funny film is one of the greatest tributes of complex love that cinema has created.