'Sentimental Value' A Review

Sentimental Value is a drama about a dysfunctional Norwegian family. Gustav(Stellan Skarsgård) returns to Oslo in the wake of his ex-wife's death and attempts to reconnect with his daughters Nora(Renate Reinsve) and Agnes(Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) and get a new film made after a long hiatus.

Skarsgård continues to deliver in his later career, here he is constrained by the character's emotional limitations but compensates beautifully with subtlety, nuance, and portrays an artist with the kind of insight and contradictions you'd expect from a life long creative. Reinsve's performance is more limited, it is in essence a version of the same character she played in Worst Person In The World an individual who is selfish, mentally ill, impenetrable, with little to no interest in changing(until the very end). Maybe that character arc is particularly appealing to co-writer/director Joachim Trier but as a viewer is pretty frustrating. The real star is Lilleaas who plays the only relatable human in the cast, she feels real, has recognizable emotions, and grows and shrinks and changes as the story progresses. The 'artist' characters swirl around her while she lives in reality. The other notable supporting cast member is Elle Fanning as Rachel Kemp an American movie star. She's compelling but the whole movie-within-a-movie subplot feels unnecessary, feels like a delaying tactic to not have to show the characters change or transform.

Visually the film is beautiful. Shot with subtlety and richness with the occasional inspired flourish or bit of magical realism. The score is effective, the locations are evocative. The production all the way around is top notch. The story is just unfocused, the themes ambitious but muddily conveyed, the resolution too tidy and brief, unearned. There's a luxuriating within the past and present trauma of the characters but no real insight about that trauma. Reminiscent of movies about addiction like Crazy Heart where the bulk of the runtime is spent languishing in the pain of life and quickly montaging through the actual progress made as a result of that pain in the final minutes proceeding the credits. Especially now in 2025 our movies do not need to tell us about how painful life is and can be, most of the entire population is living it and has been. Not to mention this particular story is full up with a kind of oblivious economic privilege that may be cultural but is still off putting.

Trauma porn. Well made, well acted, and finely drawn but trauma porn nonetheless.

Currently in theaters.

Rent It.