Written by Natasha Clough.
Photos by Kasper Tuxen.
The Danish-Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s new film was one of the most anticipated screenings at the BFI London Film Festival back in October. This was for good reason: Trier’s previous film (Worst Person) was met with great international acclaim, nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes and the recipient of two Oscar nominations. More interestingly, it resonated strongly with audiences in the way it was able to powerfully illustrate a familiar (for many) twenties coming-of-age crisis.
Renate Reinsve’s striking performance as Julie in The Worst Person in the World conveyed the feelings of being lost and uncertain of your dreams with quiet nuance. If you watched this film, you most likely found yourself captivated by Trier’s cinematic world with characters that felt incredibly real, even deeply relatable. Reprise (2006) and Oslo, August 31st (2011), part of the filmmaker’s Oslo Trilogy, shared this sense of feeling lost existentially and navigating the expectations we place on ourselves of where we should be in life. Trier’s ability to capture relationships and modern life intimately and personally continues in Sentimental Value, with a focus on fractured family bonds.
Reinsve returns as Nora, a successful stage actor harbouring resentment towards her egocentric director father (Stellan Skarsgård). Having abandoned her and her younger sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) in their childhood, he only reemerges back into their lives at the scene of their mother’s funeral. His abrupt presence unearths a transparent anger in Nora, clearly hurt by his efforts to reconnect in adulthood and not afraid to confront him on the pain he has caused. By contrast, Agnes is the sister who appears more forgiving or at least more willing to sweep her hurt under the rug for the time being. These differing reactions are something the film uses to trace how two siblings can become so different from one another. We begin to understand how two sisters can grow up in the same home but have different childhoods.
Gustav Borg (Skarsgård) is an acclaimed but fading director who struggles to maintain close relationships outside of a film set. When he returns to the house he abandoned in Oslo, he has a new screenplay in hand that he is eager for Nora to read. The script hints at their family’s traumatic past that the house has borne witness to. She firmly refuses his offer of the lead role, clearly not ready to forgive or take on a working relationship with him when their personal one is practically nonexistent, whereas Gustav seems to see art as a way of repairing this void where they can’t communicate. When he replaces her with a Hollywood movie star, Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), he begins the process of creating a film still filtered through his eldest daughter. Although Rachel tries her best to connect with her character, she cannot escape Nora’s shadow.
The film is anchored by this fraught father-daughter relationship and its cast delivers magnetic performances even in scenes of sparse dialogue. Joachim Trier’s films make moments of silence truly entrancing. One scene that epitomises this is a simple moment between Nora and Gustav. There is this temporary calmness as they smoke outside of a family gathering, unclouded by heated conflict. Their smiles suggest a chance at reconciliation, that love is still there. Nora would be reluctant to admit, perhaps, how similar she is to her father in many ways. While Agnes’s life is positioned as more conventional and stable, her sister has chosen a career in the arts like Gustav. They both share this level of precarity and loneliness that can’t be easily spoken. Skarsgård and Reinsve convey all of this with subtlety and complexity.
Sentimental Value is emotionally devastating, heartfelt and full of unexpected comedic moments. It uncovers intergenerational wounds but is tender and hopeful. It’s a must-see film that deserves to be watched on the big screen.Sentimental Value is out in UK and Irish cinemas on 26 December.
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