The Love That Remains

The Love That Remains - image - a film by Hlynur Pálmason
The Love That Remains - image - a film by Hlynur Pálmason
The Love That Remains - image - a film by Hlynur Pálmason
The Love That Remains - image - a film by Hlynur Pálmason
ICELAND, 2025
The Love That Remains - poster - a film by Hlynur Pálmason
Exquisitely tender. Spiralling into surrealism as ordered lives and minds unravel, Pálmason’s fourth feature is an album of achingly felt, morbidly funny and increasingly haywire scenes from a marriage. Wise and lyrical, “The Love That Remains” thrives on its profound understanding of each family’s individual oddness, and the incremental confusion with which growing children regard their parents, as their elders grow smaller and more flawed by the day.
Perfectly crafted. This instantly joins the ranks with 'Marriage Story' as one of THE best break-up films EVER made. For real. Every single shot is brilliant. The score, the lightness of it all, the humour, the honesty, the kids, the dog, everything about it is pure bliss. So uplifting & entertaining. I walked out of this film happier than I did when it started – how did Pálmason do that?
An unexpectedly playful and romantic film that leaves your heart full to the brim. Captures the adventure, wonder and magic of everyday moments and the intimacy we share with our families.
Depicted with utmost affection and playfulness. Pálmason manufactures rich, impressionistic tapestries of people in places, constructed entirely from banal actions and small miracles of movement. It's a film that never stops surprising. Pálmason will go down as one of his generation’s purest filmmakers.
Intriguingly depicted... An Icelandic directorial force who will invite you into his home, and at times pull the rug from right under your feet. But never so that it hurts; quite the contrary, in fact.
Director: Hlynur Pálmason
Cast: Saga Garðarsdóttir, Sverrir Gudnason, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Þorgils Hlynsson, Grímur Hlynsson.
Duration: 109mins
Country of Origin: Iceland
CTC
Exquisitely tender. Spiralling into surrealism as ordered lives and minds unravel, Pálmason’s fourth feature is an album of achingly felt, morbidly funny and increasingly haywire scenes from a marriage. Wise and lyrical, “The Love That Remains” thrives on its profound understanding of each family’s individual oddness, and the incremental confusion with which growing children regard their parents, as their elders grow smaller and more flawed by the day.
Perfectly crafted. This instantly joins the ranks with 'Marriage Story' as one of THE best break-up films EVER made. For real. Every single shot is brilliant. The score, the lightness of it all, the humour, the honesty, the kids, the dog, everything about it is pure bliss. So uplifting & entertaining. I walked out of this film happier than I did when it started – how did Pálmason do that?
An unexpectedly playful and romantic film that leaves your heart full to the brim. Captures the adventure, wonder and magic of everyday moments and the intimacy we share with our families.
Depicted with utmost affection and playfulness. Pálmason manufactures rich, impressionistic tapestries of people in places, constructed entirely from banal actions and small miracles of movement. It's a film that never stops surprising. Pálmason will go down as one of his generation’s purest filmmakers.
Intriguingly depicted... An Icelandic directorial force who will invite you into his home, and at times pull the rug from right under your feet. But never so that it hurts; quite the contrary, in fact.

OFFICIAL SELECTION - 2025 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL (Premiere)
OFFICIAL SELECTION - 2025 SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL (Official Competition)
OFFICIALS SELECTION - 2025 NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

From award-winning writer/director Hlynur Pálmason (Godland, A White, White Day) – one of cinema’s most singular contemporary artists – THE LOVE THAT REMAINS tenderly and hilariously captures a year in the life of a family of five, as the parents navigate their separation.

Though in the throes of a splitting up, Anna (Saga Garðarsdóttir) and Magnus (Sverrir Gudnason) still spend time together for the sake of their three children, Ída and twins Þorgils and Grímur (played, remarkably, by the three real-life children of director Pálmason). Magnus works at sea, infrequently returning to land, where he asserts himself as the patriarch with limited efficacy. Anna is an artist whose vast and impressive works fail to receive suitable recognition. In their interactions, whilst there's sufficient indication of why the separation is happening, there's also the familiarity of a long-held love and a glimmer of a chance of reconciliation...

Taking playful and wonderful diversions into thrilling comedic and fantastical sequences, Pálmason's deeply felt film conveys so much love for its characters and the natural environment that they are in constant communion with, delivering a poignant look at the essence of faded love and shared memories amidst the changing seasons. 

The Love That Remains - poster - a film by Hlynur Pálmason
ICELAND, 2025
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NEW ZEALAND PREMIERE SCREENINGS
2025 NEW ZEALAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Touring nationally, 31 July-10 September
Click here for venues & times

VICTORIA PREMIERE SCREENINGS
2025 MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
7-24 August
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