Anna and Magnus built a life together. They had a home with three kids and a dog. Then they separated. This is where The Love That Remains<\/em> begins, but as time passes and the reality of their divorce sets in, they\u2019re left to move through a future strained by their unraveling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Icelandic director Hlynur P\u00e1lmason\u2019s latest film echoes the radiant visual language of his previous, the 19th-century period piece Godland<\/em> and contemporary drama A White, White Day<\/em>. And though its subject matter is heavy, the tone here is admittedly lighter. The aforementioned dog, Panda, even took home the Palm Dog Award at Cannes this year, which \u2014 and I\u2019m being very serious here \u2014 is an actual award given out. On the surface, The Love That Remains <\/em>is a story about normal people with normal feelings and normal problems, like how to raise a family while going through a divorce and what to do when one of your kids \u2014 who are played by P\u00e1lmason\u2019s children \u2014 shoots the other in the chest with a bow and arrow. (He\u2019s fine, but he\u2019s gonna need a new sweater.) Interview edited and condensed.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Verge: I want to start here. <\/strong>Godland<\/em><\/strong> had such a weighty story. <\/strong>The Love That Remains<\/em><\/strong> feels lighter, but I think they share similar themes. Do they feel similar to you? Different? I\u2019d be curious to hear you talk about that relationship.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hlynur P\u00e1lmason: Because Godland<\/em> was this period film and there\u2019s almost like a heaviness with each period film because you have to create everything. You just can\u2019t just take a camera and start shooting whatever. So there was this feeling of wanting to do something with a little bit different energy, like more playful and something that we could almost just go out and shoot. And also, just with a smaller budget and smaller crew. I mean, it was actually very small in Godland<\/em>, but even smaller in The Love That Remains<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But there is this thing that I have after I moved back home to Iceland, I was always trying to figure out a way of stretching time so I could have more time with each project, which is difficult because of finances. But we kind of found a way to do it by working in parallel on a couple of projects. But we\u2019re developing and writing and shooting various things. And then when we feel like it kind of has formed and we feel that it\u2019s ready and the energy is ready, we kind of select the project that we move forward with. The Love That Remains<\/em>, in many ways, has been going on for such a long time. Even the first image we shot was in 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s quite a long process. Sometimes when you talk about other projects, they are almost happening parallel. I remember shooting scenes from Godland<\/em> and the same week, shooting a scene for The Love That Remains<\/em>, which is crazy to think about.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n You keep all these different threads in your head?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yeah, I think it all kind of… I don\u2019t know. I feel like, I think some people would find it negative if things are talking too much together or eating into each other, like projects. But I kind of like when it happens because it kind of shakes you and makes you even doubt things or pushes the project. If something is turning out really interesting in one project, it kind of feeds into the other one or it kind of pushes the other one to do better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n I would never be able to make one film at a time, because financially it wouldn\u2019t work at all. And I would only make three films during my lifetime and I would have to have other works, teacher and other things.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The title, <\/strong>The Love That Remains<\/em><\/strong>, is really more of a question: what love remains? Was making this film a way for you to answer that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Often I think about what is the meaning of all this? When you go through life, you have moments of doubt about just life and things and what\u2019s the meaning of all of it. If I\u2019m in a relationship for many years and then we get separated and my fianc\u00e9e would just find another, what is it? It\u2019s so silly, all of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But there\u2019s also a brighter side: how precious time is and how you spend it and actually, who you spend it with and who you decide to spend it with. Because time is probably precious because it moves so fast. You kind of have to, try to capture what you can get or moments with ones you love. And yeah, I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about time and you can see that both in Godland<\/em> and in The Love That Remains<\/em>, where really, there\u2019s an emphasis on time, on how it moves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The opening sequence is really lovely. You establish this family by holding a portrait of them at the table. It almost feels like a sitcom, but then the music isn\u2019t sitcom music at all?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yeah, I did think a lot about after I filmed this image, this image of the roof getting ripped off of the old studio, that was the first image I filmed for the film.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yeah. And when I had that image, I knew exactly what would happen afterward. And that\u2019s often the case when I\u2019m working. I often don\u2019t know what happens unless I record a sound or I film an image, and then I kind of just react to the image and then I know what happens. It\u2019s kind of like you get stimulated by something you experience or film, and then you write the next scene or you know what\u2019s going to happen. And I think just when I saw this image of the roof, not while I was filming it, because I was not in a good state then, but afterwards, I knew exactly how the film should start.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n We should be introduced to each family member and it should be this warm feeling before things begin to fall apart. But also, afterward you begin to find out that it\u2019s actually a fractured family, they\u2019re not together anymore. And often the case is when I\u2019m making something, I know what I don\u2019t<\/em> want the film to be, but I don\u2019t always know what I want it to be.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s fun and playful, but sweet and sincere, too.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But when does it become sentimental? And that\u2019s something that I don\u2019t like. I only like it in a David Lynch film or something. I love it in his films, but I could never do that. So I tried to balance it in a different way, but it is a fine line.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Buried deep are existential questions. \u201cOften I think about what is the meaning of all this? When you go through life, you have moments of doubt about just life and things and what\u2019s the meaning of all of it,\u201d P\u00e1lmason tells me. \u201cIt\u2019s so silly, all of it.\u201d He\u2019s right. It is silly. It\u2019s also life? As we pass through the seasons with Anna and Magnus, we begin to learn what\u2019s left between them.
The director sat down with The Verge<\/em> to talk about what it\u2019s like to direct your own kids and how he balanced shooting Godland<\/em> and The Love That Remains<\/em> at the same time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/platform.theverge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/01\/Hlynur_002.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0,0,100,100\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n