The Love That Remains

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The Icelandic feature film The Love That Remains (Ástin sem eftir er) is nominated for the 2026 Nordic Council Film Prize. The nominees are director and screenwriter Hlynur Pálmason and producers Anton Máni Svansson and Katrin Pors.

The Love That Remains depicts a year in the life of Anna and Magnús, a newly separated couple, as they navigate work, sex, and the complexities of a family that includes a teenage daughter and twin boys. Scenes of family life invoke the gravitational pull of old certainties and emotional attachments that have shifted but not entirely dissipated.

Pálmason employs various editing rhythms, the most conspicuous being the montage sequences along with time lapses, but he is also happy to dwell on things that capture the interest of the camera and the narration, and he is not immune to the beauty of the landscape, although by using it to frame a dysfunctional family he manages to keep from fetishising it. Pálmason also continues to employ a 4:3 aspect ratio while emphasising still photography, here combining it with split screens and switching to home video footage to emphasise the passage of time. This assured visual style now combines with a more experimental take on a linear narrative than in the past, leaving gaps and temporal jumps. The resulting whole is nevertheless a clear-eyed and humorous take on grief and love, art and work.

Director: Hlynur Pálmason

Actors: Saga Garðarsdóttir, Sverrir Guðnason, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Þorgils Hlynsson, Grímur Hlynsson

Length: 109 min

Audio: Icelandic

Text: English

Age: 11