The Church in Godland

On an unfinished structure and the images around it

Too many things to say about Godland (2022) by Hlynur Pálmason, but for now I’d like to focus on the scenes surrounding the church. The film follows Lucas, a Danish priest sent to a remote settlement in Iceland to establish a church. To be reductive, the first half follows his crossing of Icelandic landscapes, where idyllic scenery is repeatedly interrupted by misfortune. In the second half, the church is built as Lucas’s mental state deteriorates and personal relationships intensify.

I am interested in the ways Hlynur Pálmason and cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff use the building to construct situations. The following is a collection of scenes where the church appears, and observations on how its construction shapes the composition of the frame.

From landscape to building site, the construction is revealed gradually through a pan shot.

A conversation taking place inside as the camera tracks along the building. One of many moments where the “transparency” of the structure is used, allowing views through the wooden frame.

The priest alone inside the church, ending with him sitting at the entrance. An angle that is later repeated.

The first wide shot of the church appears only once the A-frame is in place, establishing the following conversation.

Conversation between the priest and Ragnar. The unfinished wooden frame momentarily dissolves the boundary between interior and exterior (such an architect’s cliché).

The mountain peak aligns with the A-frame.

Wedding inside the unfinished church. The shadows align with the pitch of the roof, turning construction geometry into part of the image. A pattern that would become distracting if not precisely aligned.

Dancing scenes seen through the frame.

An informal wedding setup. A group of children is visible through the rear window.

A baby resting in the shadow of the roof.

The cross is attached to the front of the church, aligning with the diagonal line of the mountain and fog.

A portrait of the village.

Anna and Lucas enter the church, with the shot exposed for the highlights. The second of three repetitions from this angle.

People enter the church and take their seats in a long take that ends with Lucas closing the doors.

The church resembles many small Icelandic churches, particularly the one in Krýsuvík. These modest buildings appear throughout the country, often built collectively by small communities and sized only for them. From what I could gather through Google Earth and local hiking forums, the church built for the film still stands near Vestrahorn along the Blue Path trail.

What is compelling is how the church changes its role throughout the film. At first it appears as a construction site within the landscape, then as a skeletal frame through which people interact and mountains are seen, and finally as a finished enclosure that feels increasingly constraining for Lucas.