What does the title of A White, White Day refer to or imply?

Question

The recently released critically liked but somewhat slow and elliptical Icelandic move A White, White Day (Hvítur, Hvítur Dagur in Icelandic) is a story about a small town policeman who starts to suspect his recently deceased wife was having an affair and goes a little off the rails exploring the possibility.

Before I watched it I suspected that the title would simple be a reference to Icelandic weather, possibly with some part occurring during a blizzard. This is far from the case and no such obvious reference occurs in the film.

So where does the title come from? Is it alluding to something I missed or something obvious to Icelanders and not to me?

Answer 1

As explained in the Guardian:

The title is taken from what is evidently an old proverb: “On such days when everything is white and there is no longer any difference between the Earth and the sky, then the dead can talk to us.” The midnight sun of death shines a cold, clear light upon the living.

Little White Lies explains:

The film’s title, we’re informed in an opening caption, refers to the sort of day, ‘Where you can no longer tell the difference between the earth and the sky,’ hence the dead can talk to the living.