Valor sentimental

"Sentimental Value" is a tightly scripted and extremely well acted movie about navigating the work/life balance of being an artist. The absentee father (played by Stellan Skarsgaard) can only relate to his daughters by casting them in his movies, when he reveals that he has been paying more attention and knows them better than they think he does. Renata Reinsve plays his high-strung actress daughter who harbors deep seated resentment of him. And Elle Fanning plays the actress he hires to be his daughter in his new movie when his actual daughter declines to work with him.

This movie feels very personal and very niche. Which is maybe why I didn't have more of an emotional response to it. Writer/director Joachim Trier ably makes us understand the dynamic that exists in this world of artists, but it didn't resonate with me personally. If I was slightly disappointed in the film, it's because I was coming in with high expectations given the rapturous praise it's received and because I was looking forward to having more of an emotional connection with it.

Grade: A-

Sentimental Values has been praised left and right as a masterpiece, but for me it lands more in the category of "good, but not great." It's beautifully made, with a strong pace, a well-crafted script and strong acting, giving the story authenticity and emotional weight from beginning to end.

One thing I really appreciated is that the film never feels over-explanatory. It trusts the audience to think, to connect what was said earlier with what's happening later, and to piece things together on their own. That kind of narrative confidence is rare, and it makes the film feel smart without being showy.

The film is also filled with references. Some subtle, some more obvious, that adds an extra layer for those who like to dissect details. It rewards attentive viewers, though at times it felt like the references were more about signaling cleverness than adding actual value to the story.

And yet, when it was over, I wasn't left with much. Despite having a personal connection to the father-child themes it explores, it didn't resonate with me in the way I expected. The structure is clever, the craft is solid, the references are plentiful, but the emotional impact fell short for me.

In the end, Sentimental Values is a finely built film with a lot of strengths, and it's certainly worth watching. But calling it a masterpiece feels like overselling it, at least from where I'm sitting.

Joachim Trier's films concern themselves with the quiet crises that shape a life. His work is marked by an unusual balance of intellectual rigor and emotional generosity: formally precise yet deeply humane, ironic without cynicism and always attentive to the small, decisive moments where lives tilt almost imperceptibly. Throughout his career, he has shown a deep attunement to the ways people try to make sense of themselves amid the shifting currents of memory and expectation.

His newest, 'Sentimental Value', sits comfortably within this body of work. Nuanced and touching, it follows film director Gustav Borg's relationship with his estranged daughters Nora and Agnes. After their mother's funeral brings the fractured family back together, old wounds, unspoken resentments and lingering affections resurface.

It is a subtle drama, saying a great deal without ever labouring its point. Trier uses the narrative to engage with a range of themes, not least the messy dynamics of familial life, generational and inherited trauma and the tension between creative ambition and emotional truth. As ever, he is less interested in resolution than in the uneasy processes by which people attempt to understand one another and themselves.

Trier's narrative, written alongside Eskil Vogt, favours conversation over confrontation, finding its drama in half spoken grievances, withheld affection and the uneasy rhythms of family interaction. Beneath these exchanges lies the quieter legacy of the past: the emotional patterns shaped by Gustav's own childhood losses and the subtle ways those patterns have drifted into the lives of his daughters.

Trier is also alert to the tensions between art and intimacy. A film Gustav is trying to make alongside Nora becomes a kind of emotional fault line, a reminder of how creativity can both illuminate and distort personal relationships. For Nora and, to a lesser extent, Agnes, participating in his work offers the possibility of connection, but also the risk of being drawn back into patterns they have spent years trying to escape. Trier treats these dynamics with characteristic delicacy, allowing the contradictions to sit side by side rather than forcing them into neat thematic conclusions.

Kasper Tuxen's cinematography extends this delicacy into the film's visual language. His images are characteristically unshowy, favouring natural light, soft contrasts and a gentle, observational camera that seems to hover at the edges of conversations rather than impose itself on them. Close ups arrive sparingly but with purpose, catching the flicker of doubt or longing that passes across a face before a character can suppress it.

Interiors are framed with a quiet warmth, while outdoor scenes carry a faint, melancholy openness, as if the landscape itself were absorbing the family's unresolved tensions. The family house itself becomes a living canvas; the beating heart of Trier's narrative. Tuxen's work never strains for symbolism; instead, it creates a visual atmosphere in which the film's emotional undercurrents can surface without fanfare (barring one moment, an unnecessary, overt nod to Ingmar Bergman's 'Persona').

Further, Jorgen Stangebye Larsen's production design reflects the film's emotional subtlety, favouring lived in spaces shaped by accumulated habits rather than overt aesthetic choices. Although some scenes seem to drag, Olivier Bugge Coutte's editing generally comes as a boon to proceedings, letting scenes breathe and conversations unfold with natural hesitations, while transitions slip by with the quiet logic of memory. In addition, Hania Rani's score, alongside an eclectic soundtrack, adds a restrained emotional undertow without ever overwhelming the drama.

The performances are uniformly strong, anchored by Stellan Skarsgard's layered and disarmingly vulnerable turn as Gustav. He plays the character not as a tyrant or a martyr, but as a man who has learned to rely on charm and avoidance, carrying old wounds he has never fully examined, with flickers of vulnerability surfacing only when he's too tired to suppress them. Renate Reinsve delivers an acting masterclass, bringing a taut, restless energy to Nora, capturing both her longing for connection and her instinctive recoil from the emotional traps she recognises all too well.

Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, meanwhile, offers a more understated but no less affecting performance as Agnes, whose calm exterior is less a sign of certainty than a way of keeping her own doubts at bay. Together, they create a believable dynamic, each performance attuned to the film's delicate balance of affection, frustration and tragic history. In addition, Elle Fanning and Anders Danielsen Lie, in smaller roles, round out the ensemble with a quiet assurance, adding texture without ever drawing focus from the central trio.

Joachim Trier's 'Sentimental Value' is a beautifully observed drama that reaffirms his place as one of cinema's most sensitive chroniclers of human connection. Strongly acted and beautifully shot, the film is hard to fault. Attentive to the small, often uncomfortable moments through which people attempt to reconcile with the baggage they carry, it is measured, humane and quietly affecting; never sentimental, yet rich in value.

This is the first time i rate a movie on imdb. I watched it on cinema a couple of days ago and it is by far the best movie I have ever seen in my life. It's still stuck in my body, even from seeing it two days ago. Really, a masterpiece... Renate is perfect for the role, also the other actors makes it whole. I love how you can almost touch and feel the mood in the movie. Joachim Trier has done it again. This is Oscar worthy, and I hope everyone is watching this at least one time in their life.

Sentimental Value is a multi-layered masterpiece of a film that skillfully shows several generations of a family affected by both historical and personal traumas. The film focuses on two of the generations: father and two daughters living their life in modern Norway and dealing with the emotional baggage from their past in very different ways. The film honestly opens the door for us into this family house so that we see things the way they are, no character is judged or mocked here. Yet, the storytelling itself has its own twists, therefore we can get the pieces together towards the end, which makes this film even more wholesome and delicate. Amazing script, wonderful acting, great choice of music. Bravo!