AFFEKSJONSVERDI (SENTIMENTAL VALUE)
2025 | Dir. Joachim Trier | 133 Minutes
"It's hard to love someone who's so full of rage."
2025 | Dir. Joachim Trier | 133 Minutes
"It's hard to love someone who's so full of rage."
After years of estrangement, Nora and Agnes' accomplished film director father Gustav re-enters their lives in hopes of salvaging his relationship with them. While Agnes is keen on reconnecting Gustav, Nora is decidedly not despite Gustav's plan to cast her in lead part for his latest film.
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value is an artfully understated drama that presents a grounded perspective on familial trauma and the difficult process of reconciliation. Featuring central characters gifted in artistic expression, how the film depicts the different ways Nora and Gustav seek catharsis through creative endeavors is fascinating, but the central conflict stemming from the tension between daughter and estranged father is portrayed in the form of consistent passive aggressive barbs rather than the melodramatic altercations one might expect. Instead, the feature's most cinematic moments are in its brief interludes exploring the history of the family home and all of the emotions contained within its walls over the years.
Sentimental Value also offers sharp commentary on the state of the film industry. Trier is quite frank about how difficult it is for even a renowned Norwegian movie director to get a passion project off the ground, having to rely on the clout of a major movie star, having to shoot the film in English, and most likely having to forgo theatrical exhibition to secure distribution from a certain streaming juggernaut. The challenges of the production run parallel to Gustav's struggle to connect with Nora and, perhaps more directly, process his conflicted feelings left unspoken about his late mother as the film he is making is about her as much as it about his relationship with Nora.
The greatest strength of Sentimental Value is Renate Reinsve's superb natural performance as the complex Nora. Reinsve is phenomenally nuanced in the role, fully embodying a conflicted woman in such dire need of emotional release that her continued retention of resentment against her father threatens to destroy her through figurative steady corrosion - her crippling stage fright despite her talent as an actress, her self-sabotage in the form of pursuing a relationship with a romantic partner who is clearly unavailable, and her depression almost casually revealed to be potentially suicidal late in the picture though it hardly comes as a shock. Stellan Skarsgård as also excellent as Gustav, an ostensibly charming man harboring a deep well of pain who only seems to know how to bond with his loved ones through his love of film however misguided, whether it's casting his daughters in his movies or gifting his 8-year-old grandson DVDs of erotic dramas. The cast also features an affecting performance from Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as Nora's deeply empathetic sister Agnes and a convincingly earnest Elle Fanning as famous American actress Rachel Kemp who quickly realizes Gustav's plan to have her fill in for Nora is more demanding than she realized.
Sentimental Value is a quiet drama that takes its audience down the long road to understanding and forgiveness without much in the way of artifice. While it isn't the flashiest picture in terms of spectacle or big dramatic swings, it is nonetheless a sobering look at the damage that can be done by festering bitterness. Renate Reinsve is truly stunning in the lead role.
FRAGMENTS
- 2026 Best Picture Academy Award Nominee Hamnet also depicts the pursuit of personal catharsis specifically through theatrical artistic expression
- I can't hear that "Dies Irae" section of "Symphonie Fantastique" without immediately associating it with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
- This film honestly did not resonate with me as much as I think it should -- I wonder if I'll grow to appreciate it more in time
- Seriously, imagine watching The Piano Teacher and Irreversible at 8 years old, hilarious
007 CONNECTIONS
- Jesper Christensen (Mr. White in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Spectre)
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig in Thor, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Thor: Love and Thunder)
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value is an artfully understated drama that presents a grounded perspective on familial trauma and the difficult process of reconciliation. Featuring central characters gifted in artistic expression, how the film depicts the different ways Nora and Gustav seek catharsis through creative endeavors is fascinating, but the central conflict stemming from the tension between daughter and estranged father is portrayed in the form of consistent passive aggressive barbs rather than the melodramatic altercations one might expect. Instead, the feature's most cinematic moments are in its brief interludes exploring the history of the family home and all of the emotions contained within its walls over the years.
Sentimental Value also offers sharp commentary on the state of the film industry. Trier is quite frank about how difficult it is for even a renowned Norwegian movie director to get a passion project off the ground, having to rely on the clout of a major movie star, having to shoot the film in English, and most likely having to forgo theatrical exhibition to secure distribution from a certain streaming juggernaut. The challenges of the production run parallel to Gustav's struggle to connect with Nora and, perhaps more directly, process his conflicted feelings left unspoken about his late mother as the film he is making is about her as much as it about his relationship with Nora.
The greatest strength of Sentimental Value is Renate Reinsve's superb natural performance as the complex Nora. Reinsve is phenomenally nuanced in the role, fully embodying a conflicted woman in such dire need of emotional release that her continued retention of resentment against her father threatens to destroy her through figurative steady corrosion - her crippling stage fright despite her talent as an actress, her self-sabotage in the form of pursuing a relationship with a romantic partner who is clearly unavailable, and her depression almost casually revealed to be potentially suicidal late in the picture though it hardly comes as a shock. Stellan Skarsgård as also excellent as Gustav, an ostensibly charming man harboring a deep well of pain who only seems to know how to bond with his loved ones through his love of film however misguided, whether it's casting his daughters in his movies or gifting his 8-year-old grandson DVDs of erotic dramas. The cast also features an affecting performance from Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as Nora's deeply empathetic sister Agnes and a convincingly earnest Elle Fanning as famous American actress Rachel Kemp who quickly realizes Gustav's plan to have her fill in for Nora is more demanding than she realized.
Sentimental Value is a quiet drama that takes its audience down the long road to understanding and forgiveness without much in the way of artifice. While it isn't the flashiest picture in terms of spectacle or big dramatic swings, it is nonetheless a sobering look at the damage that can be done by festering bitterness. Renate Reinsve is truly stunning in the lead role.
FRAGMENTS
- 2026 Best Picture Academy Award Nominee Hamnet also depicts the pursuit of personal catharsis specifically through theatrical artistic expression
- I can't hear that "Dies Irae" section of "Symphonie Fantastique" without immediately associating it with Stanley Kubrick's The Shining
- This film honestly did not resonate with me as much as I think it should -- I wonder if I'll grow to appreciate it more in time
- Seriously, imagine watching The Piano Teacher and Irreversible at 8 years old, hilarious
007 CONNECTIONS
- Jesper Christensen (Mr. White in Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Spectre)
MCU CONNECTIONS
- Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig in Thor, The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Thor: Love and Thunder)
