Sentimental Value
Years after their film director father, Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård), left their therapist mother Sissel (Marianne Vassbotn Klasson), renowned Oslo stage actress Nora (Renate Reinsve) and married mother of young Erik (Øyvind Hesjedal Loven) Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) reunite with him at her funeral reception in the large family home, which the sisters share. Nora's response is far chillier, and when Gustav proposes making a movie he wrote for her, she turns it down, only to be shocked when he goes ahead with it with Hollywood star Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), using their home, which he owns, for its set in "Sentimental Value."
Laura's Review: A
Cowriter (with Eskil Vogt)/director Joachim Trier ("Oslo, August 31," "The Worst Person in the World") returns to his beloved Oslo, his prior 'Oslo trilogy' now a quartet, his new film grappling with generational history housed within a home, father/daughter relationships, sisterhood and the artistic temperament. There are many echoes of Bergman here, from characters reflecting one another to an emphasis on theater.
After a flashback illuminating Nora's 6th grade essay in which she imagined herself as her family home, one which has a symbolic crack caused by its foundation sinking, we jump to the present day where Nora, now played by Renate Reinsve, gives one of the most painfully funny examples of stage fright ever put to screen. One of her avoidance tactics, in addition to a panic attack, demanding a costume adjustment, then literally tearing it to pieces, is to suggest backstage sex with her married lover Jakob (Reinsve's "Worst Person in the World" costar, Anders Danielsen Lie), the first flag that the woman we will recognize wants family works against her own desires.
The home is a large, red wooden house with ornate balconies and moldings and gabled roof, the inside bright and airy, yet full of old world character.
Nora is quite surprised when their father shows up, asking Agnes if she knew (Agnes did not, although she notified him of their mother's death) and Trier marks the length of time it's been by Gustav having to be introduced to his nine year-old grandson. The man is gracious about their mother, but while Agnes is welcoming, Nora is not, regarding him suspiciously when she finds him coming up from the basement carrying two boxes, although she does agree to meet with him while he's in town. After he leaves she's shocked to learn from Agnes that their father owns their house.
After this focus on Nora, things shift a bit towards Gustav, who is having a retrospective of his work in France along with a worldwide release as a documentary subject. He'll meet with Nora in an Oslo restaurant, telling her he's written a movie for her and wants to film it in their home. Initially she seems receptive, but then she'll note that he's never even seen her act. He replies that he doesn't like theater and a wall goes up, Nora bitterly telling him she doesn't want to work with him. Trier suddenly immerses us in one of Gustav's films, a 1970's era WWII movie starring Agnes as a girl separated from her brother during the Holocaust, part of the Borg retrospective at the Deauville Film Festival. After being embraced in a post-film Q&A, Gustav is told that he's been invited to join Rachel Kemp's party for dinner at L'Excelsior, and he connects with the young, adoring actress, staying up until dawn drinking champagne on the beach. They'll next be seen approaching his house by Agnes and Nora looking out from inside, Nora bolting out the back door rather than face them.
Trier continues to explore that house through Gustav's very personal screenplay, one which also serves to relay the family history begun with young Nora's essay recounting the death of her great-great-great grandfather. As he pulls threads from the past which include the suicide of his mother, we will witness Rachel's equally credible, if very different approach to acting than Nora's, the difference between film rehearsals and live theater performance causing every bit as much emotional turmoil when Gustav leads Kemp throughout the house going over the oner he's envisioned will end his film.
There is also humor here, Gustav gifting his young grandson blu-rays of "The Piano Teacher" and "Irreversible," two obviously inappropriate films for a child his age, and the one two punch that reveals the filmmaker may be out of touch, responding to press that of course his film will be shown in theaters even as it's financed by Netflix, Gustav's producer Michael (Jesper Christensen) waving frantically from the wings to curtail his answer. (Earlier when Gustav visits Michael at his home, Michael spreads his arms out towards his pool noting 'This is all from Lasse Halstrom, not you, before agreeing to produce Gustav's latest.)
The cast is exceptional, Reinsve funny and brittle and high strung, supported by Ibsdotter Lilleaas in a quieter performance, Agnes' role reflected back into Nora's when we hear why she objects to her father casting Erik in his film in another example of Bergmanesque character duality. The two share an intimate conversation in the film's last act, each sharing how the other had taken care of them, a lovely moment. Skarsgård soars as the aging filmmaker trying to reconnect with his daughter ('It's hard to love someone so full of rage'), one he understands more than she had realized. The actor stops us dead in our tracks with his expression as he watches his old cinematographer Peter (Lars Väringer) feebly rise from a chair with a cane, seeing his own mortality in his friend. Elle Fanning is quite the surprise here, going toe-to-toe with her costars, creating an actress of depth and empathy - when Gustav tells her 'You're a good person,' we believe him because Fanning has exemplified it. The film also costars Swedish actress Lena Endre as Kemp's language coach Ingrid Berger.
"Sentimental Value" may end exactly the way we've expected it to all along, but it does so, again, with duality, this time with wonderful artistic contrast. The film's soundtrack, which begins with 'Dancing Girl' and wraps with 'Cannock Chase,' embraces the film's mood and themes. If it wasn't already evident, Joachim Trier is a world class filmmaker.
Robin's Review: B+
Neon releases "Sentimental Value" in select theaters on 11/7/25, expanding on 11/14/25.
