Joachim Trier’s follow-up to his arthouse hit The Worst Person in the World, this piercing and ecstatically moving reflection on family and memory stars Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, and Elle Fanning.
A heart-swelling and unexpectedly humor-filled tale that will break you before it makes you whole again. You will leave the movie with a newfound gratitude for all that cinema can do.
Sentimental Value 2025
Affeksjonsverdi
“An exuberant, garrulous, self- aware picture about an ageing and egomaniac film director and his two grownup daughters… it’s a movie of daddy issues and cinematic adventures in the manner of Fellini and Bergman.
Stellan Skarsgård plays preening auteur Gustav Borg, whose career is on the slide; many years ago, he left his wife and two young daughters, abandoning the family home – the house where Gustav himself was brought up. Now their mother has died, and just as the two daughters are sorting through the house’s contents for things of sentimental value they might want to keep before selling the house, they are stunned to realise that the insufferable Gustav actually still has legal rights to the property and now wants to use it as a location for a biopic about his mother, who took her own life there due to the trauma of being tortured by the Nazis during the war.
To add insult to injury, Gustav begs now famous screen actor daughter Nora (Renate Reinsve) to take the lead role of her own grandmother, expecting that Nora, whom he neglected for most of her life, will use her stage fame to revive his flagging career. After Nora angrily refuses, the part is taken by Hollywood superstar Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), who has fallen for Gustav’s rascally charm.” — Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“The sensitive sixth feature from Norway’s director Joachim Trier. On its surface, the film may touch on the familiar theme of how artists draw from their own lives, but Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård bring incredible tenderness to a story that is ultimately about what children and parents never say to one another – and whether those lifelong silences can ever be broken.
Collaborating again with frequent co-writer Eskil Vogt (now also a successful director), Trier fashions a nuanced look at both a troubled family and a dysfunctional film industry. (Gustav’s comeback project will be distributed through Netflix, and the divisive streamer is the target of a couple of the screenplay’s better barbs.) Much of Sentimental Value takes place in the Borg family’s home, and an efficient flashback, framed as an essay Nora wrote as a girl, explains how they have lived in the house for generations… That slightly fading family home becomes an apt metaphor for the weathered bond Nora, Agnes and Gustav share, although Reinsve’s fragile performance articulates the festering resentment she feels toward her absent father.
Trier’s third picture to screen at Cannes, after 2021’s The Worst Person in the World’s breakout lead Reinsve won Best Actress, the reunion of director and star will entice arthouse crowds… and those seeking a smart, thoughtful tearjerker should be pleased with this sentimental but far-from-mawkish film.” — Tom Grierson, Screen Daily