A One Mann’s Movies review of “Sentimental Value” (2025, 4*, 15).
Original Title: Original title: Affeksjonsverdi.
Joachim Trier gained a great deal of Oscar attention with his last film “The Worst Person in the World”, which I am ashamed to say I have still to watch! But here with “Sentimental Value” he seems destined to get even more Oscar buzz. For this is a brilliantly-crafted family drama with some terrific central performances, especially from Stellan Skarsgård who, I think, must surely get an Oscar nomination for this.
I have to admit that both myself and the illustrious Mrs Movie Man went into this late night preview screening still suffering from our NZ jet-lag. (YES STILL! It’s been like 10 days!) So I have to admit that there were times when we might have nodded off a bit! I remember during some of the longer monologues that I shut my eyes to just listen before realising it was all in Norwegian and I had to open them again for the subtitles – LOL! So this is a film that might benefit from a second viewing!
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Nora Borg (Renate Reinsve) is a well-regarded stage actress, brilliant on stage but almost crippled by nerves and self-doubt when off it. Together with her sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), they are working through sorting out the debris of their mother’s life in their family home following her passing. Nora’s life gets further turned upside down when her estranged father Gustav – a famous film director – arrives bearing a script that he has written specifically for her to star in. The fact that the script is based on his suicidal mother doesn’t really help her mental state.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong language, suicide references”.)
Talent:
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning, Anders Danielsen Lie, Jesper Christensen, Lena Endre, Cory Michael Smith, Lars Väringer, Ida Atlanta Kyllingmark Giertsen, Mikkel Knutsen Bjaadal.
Directed by: Joachim Trier.
Written by: Eskil Vogt & Joachim Trier.
Running Time: 2h 13m.
Summary:
Positives:
- Stunning central performances from the three leads.
- The house is brilliantly positioned as a major character in the film.
- Nora is fascinatingly complex character.
- A brilliant script: you really want to know how it will unfold.
Negatives:
- Some of Gustav’s motivations and actions are quite hard to decipher.
Full Review of “Sentimental Value”:
The house is a character.
The house used for the filming is at 25 Thomas Heftyes Gate in Oslo’s hilly Frogner neighbourhood and it is a gothic delight that actually becomes a living, breathing character in the film. It is even introduced at the start of the film – in brilliant style I thought – as a character.
The house anchors the film as being about, in part, the physical and emotional baggage that a home, and indeed a life, amasses over time. We see the house transform over time from flash-back scenes of Gustav’s youth to the current day, reminding me somewhat of Robert Zemekis’s recent film “Here“. We even see, later in the film, as the house is transitioned from gothic oddity to swish Scandi-modernity.
Brilliant female performances.
Joachim Trier is a director who clearly can bring out the very best in his actors. Never afraid of extreme close-ups, Trier gets the camera right up in the faces of his cast. Both Renate Reinsve and
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas are superb as the two, very different, sisters, Nora and Agnes.
Nora is an extremely complex and well-observed character, brilliantly introduced via an excruciatingly painful to watch stage-fright sequence. We learn about her affair with the married stage-crew member Jakob (Anders Danielsen Lie) after she seeks him out for a nerve-settling-screw backstage (but there’s no time!) Later, in bed, post-sex, she comments to him that she is “80% fucked up”. “Where’s the other 20%?” asks Jakob. “This is me, here, right now” Nora laughs back.
Agnes is a much quieter role but still brilliantly done by Lilleaas. A scene where Agnes describes how it was Nora’s motherly presence that stopped her being as screwed-up as she became is extremely well done and very touching.
I haven’t mentioned Elle Fanning as yet, but she is also great in her role as US film star Rachel Kemp. She has a lesser part in the film, but her scene on the beach with Gustav is a stand-out cinematic moment.
Stellan Skarsgård
But it is Stellan Skarsgård who really stands out from the crowd as the “wow” acting performance in the film. His Gustav is just brilliantly portrayed with barely a flicker of a facial movement conveying volumes. He received a BAFTA Supporting Actor nomination for his role in the TV series “Chernobyl”. But he hasn’t seen any recognition for his film roles from either BAFTA or the Academy. I predict that that might (and should) change with this performance.
Where will it go?
I reckon that this is an Original Screenplay that might also be in the running for a nomination. The pacing and the dialogue are excellent and you never quite know where the story might go.
But it is a complex story to follow at times. This might have been the jet-lag, but I struggled to fully understand some of Gustav’s rationale for his actions. For example, Gustav is dead keen on having his favourite, but now retired, Director of Photography Peter (Lars Väringer) to shoot his film and goes to pay him a visit. (“What visit?” replied the Illustrious Mrs Movie Man…. ha ha… busted!) But when Gustav sees that Peter is infirm and is walking with a stick, he goes off the idea and starts back-peddling. I didn’t understand why. (Although clearly he later had a change of heart.)
Summary Thoughts:
A really intelligent watch, this incisive delve into the lives of middle-class Norwegian intelligentsia is brilliantly delivered and very likely to get a lot of Oscar buzz in the upcoming months.
“Sentimental Value” opens in UK cinemas on Boxing Day.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKbcKQN5Yrw.
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