Lena

Lena moves from her homeland of Poland to Iceland to work in a hotel in Reykjavik. Her family had had some financial trouble recently as a result of her fathers illness and is Lena going to earn money to send back home. Lena in excited about moving to Iceland and has put a lot of effort into learning the language and the culture. The story starts at her home in Polland where she is preparing a goodbye dinner for her family. She cooks a very colourful dinner, which you might say represents her character and identity. The next day she flies to Iceland. Her aunt Zuzanna receives her in Iceland and they go to Zuzanna´s apartment where Lena will stay. They work together in a hotel in downtown Reykjavík. This is a large hotel and they work as maids. Lena meets Kári who works at the hotel bar. She is enchanted by his charm and his lifestyle. Kári who never has to work too hard for living has this ease about him that Lena admires. He is all into music and having fun and Lena gets drawn into that. Lena starts to hide her own identity and background. She stops making colorful food as she had done in Poland. She starts to deny all her fellings og her homesickness. But with time the feeling emerges in surreal episodes. Poland and her experiences from home begin to infiltrate her icelandic reality. She ceases to tell reality from her imagination. Her conflict climaxes at a Thorrablót held by her workplace and her associate, Haraldur rapes her. The question leaves us with if she should she press charges and stay at this place she so desperately wants to be part of, or will she go home and in her mind, give up on her dream?