‘The Love That Remains’ review: Icelandic drama follows a family after separation

Hlynur Pálmason’s The Love That Remains is an Icelandic comedy-drama and a New York Times Critic’s Pick that follows a family in rural Iceland in the year after parents Anna and Magnus separate. The review was published Jan. 29, 2026; the film is 1 hour 49 minutes, in Icelandic with subtitles, and is in theaters.

The film centers on Anna (Saga Gardarsdottir), who remains in the family home with her three children — Ida (Ida Mekkin Hlynsdottir), Grimur (Grimur Hlynsson) and Thorgils (Thorgils Hlynsson) — and their sheepdog, Panda. Magnus (Sverrir Gudnason) is a fisherman who is gone for weeks at a time but frequently appears around the house; the couple were high school sweethearts and their families have known each other for generations.

Pálmason, who wrote, directed and shot the film and whose own children appear as the kids, favors wry visual metaphors and a sly surrealism that keeps the audience guessing whether certain moments are literal or imagined. The review highlights Anna’s art — sheet metal cut into giant geometric shapes laid outdoors to corrode and leave marks — and notes other repeated motifs, like a scarecrow-turned-knight the children build, that function as metaphors.

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