Film review: ‘SENTIMENTAL VALUE’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Norwegian film Sentimental Value from director Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World) was one of the most lauded movies of 2025. This insightful, superbly acted story of family conflict, artistic tension and the toxic effect of long held bitterness mostly deserves the accolades although it will tend to appeal to particular filmgoers.
Renata Reinsve (who starred in The Worst Person in the World) and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas are sisters Mira and Agnes who grew up enduring the tempestuous marriage between their film director father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgard) and their mother Sissel (Ida Marianne Vassbotn Klasson) who only appears very briefly here. When Sissel dies, Gustav, who had abandoned the family years earlier, returns to reclaim the family home. His reappearance triggers tensions and repressed resentments from his daughters. This is only exacerbated when he asks Nora, a stage actress, to appear in his latest film, a biopic about his mother who had once been imprisoned by the Nazis. With Nora understandably dubious about playing her troubled deceased grandmother, Gustave brings in American actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) who, as an outsider, is forced to try and interpret the damaging forces and anguish that have shaped this family.
With its distinctive Scandinavian psychology, story of female relationships and meditation on ageing and death, the film clearly evokes the work of directors like Ingmar Bergman. Sentimental Value is, however, slightly more upbeat than a typical Bergman film with flashes of humour and inventive and energetic direction although there are many solemn moments of reflection and existential angst. Extremely meta in its artistic references, the film also has Nora playing the character of the same name in a production of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and at one point it uses a very Woody Allen-esque tootling clarinet soundtrack reminding us that Woody has evoked Scandinavian female-led family dramas in many of his more serious films.
From its writing, to its acting, cinematography and direction, this is classy cinema. Sentimental Value, though, will not be to all tastes and will leave a few wondering what the fuss is about. The Bergman and other cinematic references are absolute catnip to film critics and cinephiles and may have elevated its ratings. Some viewers may struggle with the fact that this is not a plot driven film and has no especially thrilling narrative twists nor inventions. It’s concerned with the characters, their relationships and their art. Within those confines Trier convincingly depicts the tension and emotional manipulation afflicting families although the trials and tribulations of these well-to-do middle class types isn’t always emotionally gripping. The film is fascinating, though, in the way it looks at the obsessive pursuit of artistic visions, particularly through Gustav as he prepares his extremely personal new film.
The entire cast are wonderful here. Skarsgard has some of the grim countenance of a typical Scandinavian film patriarch but he also gives the character a cheeky and mischievous quality. Reinsve, who was unforgettable in The Worst Person in the World, is once again excellent showing an astonishing ability to convey layers of meaning with a single facial expression. Lilleaas is also very good in the less showy role as the more grounded sister.
Sentimental Value is a likely Best Foreign Language Oscar nominee and while its appeal is largely confined to arthouse audiences it would be a worthy candidate.
Nick’s rating: ***1/2
Genre: Drama.
Classification: M.
Director(s): Jaochim Trier.
Release date: 25th Dec 2025.
Running time: 135 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.
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