Summary
A delicately observed, emotionally layered drama that showcases Joachim Trier’s gift for capturing life’s quiet, complicated truths, anchored by an outstanding cast.
Following the monumental success of The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier reunites with actress Renate Reinsve for a different kind of exploration of life’s ripple effects. With his sixth feature, SENTIMENTAL VALUE (Affeksjonsverdi), Trier shifts from romantic entanglements to familial ones, deconstructing the complex ways families express (or fail to express) their love.
After the death of their mother, Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) are forced to reconnect with their estranged father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård). Once a highly sought-after director, Gustav hasn’t made a film in nearly 15 years. He brings a deeply personal script to Nora, now an acclaimed actress grappling with an anxiety crisis. Nora angrily rejects his offer, still harbouring resentment over his years of absence. Gustav instead casts Hollywood star Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), as familial tensions begin to simmer.
Trier’s slow-burn drama charts the therapeutic journey of a family long unable to communicate. Gustav remains emotionally closed off, his behaviour having kept his daughters at arm’s length for years. Their father’s new script focuses on a parent’s suicide, yet he repeatedly denies it’s based on his own mother’s death. Even in moments of reconnection he’s dismissive, telling Nora he dislikes theatre despite her success. His way of expressing love—handing Agnes a script, recreating fond memories of filming with Agnes via his grandson—is not the love language his daughters need.
Much of this struggle for connection centres around a family home none of them can quite let go. It’s a place of joy, tragedy, and shared burden. A house weighed down with sentimental value, as the title suggests. In contrast to the technical path of Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Trier eschews sentimentality, rendering the house almost as a living entity. One that demands to be filled, its sadness as present as its triumphs.
Reinsve, who’s delivered excellent turns in A Different Man and Armand in recent years, continues to impress with her layered performance. Like The Worst Person in the World, she balances anguish with disarmingly funny turns. Skarsgård first slips into the film without a word and delivers a quietly commanding performance. His years in Hollywood haven’t diminished his understated power on screen.
The other two leads are easily overlooked, and that’s partly the point. Lilleaas’s Agnes, once the child star of Gustav’s greatest success, now avoids making waves. Fanning, who has made intriguing role choices of late, maximises a part that’s deliberately positioned as a pawn.
In a powerful final sequence blending Gustav’s reality with his cinematic fiction, one character seems poised to mirror the past. Yet the truth proves more constructed than that. Whether any of them have truly worked through their grief or simply allowed Gustav to complete his long-standing vision remains uncertain. Either way, it’s captivating to watch unfold.
2025 | Norway, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France | DIRECTOR: Joachim Trier | WRITERS: Eskil Vogt | CAST: Renate Reinsve, Elle Fanning, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas | DISTRIBUTOR: Sydney Film Festival 2025, Madman Entertainment (Australia) | RUNNING TIME: 135 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 4-15 June 2025 (SFF 2025), 20 August 2025 (France), 12 September 2025, (Norway) 7 November 2025 (USA)
