Monogamy Talk: A Dildo in Hand

Far from a beautiful new world: OnlyFans actually sounds like a lucrative and straightforward job for Emilý. She can shoot her sexy content at home, and at any time. Yet the 25-year-old still has to deal with value-added tax and retirement contributions, as her mother sternly instructs. The mother knows her way around finances and handles her daughter’s tax return, the part-time online-porn performer. A two-year-old pair of panties she’s now reselling can’t be written off? Annoying bureaucracy.

For a joyful distraction, at least, there’s her girlfriend Katinka, who will be back in Reykjavík soon. The pair falls into each other the moment they see each other, the door’s not even shut yet. They laugh and clown around. That’s what it looks like when lovers reunite after a long time.

Open Long-Distance Relationship: The Best of All Worlds

The two women maintain an open long-distance relationship. When the Polish Katinka was in Iceland for a geochemistry conference, they met. On travels, love ends up blooming best—far from daily life, far from the worries and expectations at home.

The bisexual Emilý benefits from the long-distance arrangement: she can continue producing her content and sleep with other men and women. And when Katinka comes back to the chilly North, she has a dependable and savvy partner. The best of all worlds.

Almost anything is possible, but does it make things easier?

Yet Katinka wants more: she suggests moving to Iceland permanently for a project. That would mean an exclusive relationship for her. The sex photos and videos don’t bother the geochemist; that’s the job of Emilý’s partner. But anything less than professional sex would be off-limits. Does Emilý want that? And can she even do it?

The romantic comedy “Skinny Love” carries in Icelandic a far more fitting title—Einskonar Ást, which translates to “A Kind of Love.” Because that’s what it’s about: a particular kind of love. One that feels increasingly natural for newer generations but can also come with big questions and conflicts. Almost anything is possible, but does it actually make things easier?

What Exclusivity Really Means

Emilý doesn’t really know what exclusivity means. As confidently and boldly as she poses for her half-naked photos, she can also be uncertain. She initiates this important conversation with Katinka precisely when she’s getting ready for work: blue-violet light, a dildo in hand, the smartphone in its standard ring light.

The film by director Sigurður Anton Friðþjófsson, known as Toni, has the potential to engage with current questions: How do couples balance closeness and distance? What happens when relationship expectations don’t line up—where are compromises possible and necessary, and when does self-denial begin? Does the circle around you need to understand your relationship in order to accept it?

“Welcome to an ASMR masturbation video in Icelandic”

And finally: Is Emilý’s business actually legal where Iceland, in theory, bans porn production and distribution? Sweden has, this year, restricted the use of OnlyFans in many cases, as a point of reference.

But “Skinny Love” focuses more on visual stimuli: Emilý’s photoshoots and video shoots are omnipresent—whether solo, with her girlfriend and veteran colleague Kría, or with a new acquaintance. It’s sometimes funny (“Welcome to an ASMR masturbation video in Icelandic”), at other times dreary, for example when she produces the same “personalized” content, just with different first names. And as self-possessed and sex-positive as it may seem, the film treads a very narrow line toward softcore porn, where the male gaze still dominates.

Everyday Conversations Instead of Plot

But above all, in the flurry of sexy content creation, Emilý and Katinka’s relationship gets short shrift. Some subplots could have been trimmed to give the two women more space. Katinka (Magdalena Tworek) remains a somewhat pale secondary figure.

There’s no shortage of dialogue, though. The film leans toward a mumblecore sensibility—a genre that favors everyday conversations over plot and a low-budget look. Director Sigurður Anton Friðþjófsson even regards this label as a compliment, he told an Icelandic magazine. Unlike early-2000s mumblecore films, his dialogue isn’t improvised.

A Former OnlyFans Star in a Supporting Role

For the project, he cast a talented Emilý in Kristrún Kolbrúnardóttir. She hesitated, soon after finishing art school, to take on such a role. It seemed important to her to stress in an interview that she herself does not run an OnlyFans account. She also lives with her boyfriend in a monogamous relationship since she was 18. The supporting character Kría is played by Edda Lovísa Björgvinsdóttir, who was one of the country’s best-known OnlyFans stars before turning to acting.

That lends authenticity, but in the end, “Skinny Love” remains a film full of interesting ideas that aren’t pursued consistently enough. As a social commentary, it’s only partly effective, and it lacks emotional depth for a truly convincing romance. If you’re curious about intimacy—online and offline—and contemporary queer relationships, you might feel disappointed, but you may also find points to reflect on your own ideas.