The last several months have been particularly difficult for me. As financial hardships mount, unemployment resumes (yep, I lost my shitty sales job right after New Year’s), and I stare at the horizon of my own obsolescence as our world descends into madness, it’s hard to cling to the things that bring any kind of joy, or just to maintain anything resembling a routine. Case in point, while I’m still doing everything I can to see as many films as possible, I haven’t made a YouTube video in six months and I continue to slack on my review backlog.
This brings us to Sentimental Value, the Oscar submission from Norway, which I saw almost exactly two months ago, and am only now getting around to critiquing as we near the Academy’s nominations. Like The Secret Agent, this is another candidate that could hear its name called in several categories, as it received six nominations at last week’s Critics’ Choice Awards and has eight pending for this weekend’s Golden Globes, including its entire main cast. Is it worth its hype? Abso-fucking-lutely! While other contenders this Awards Season are bigger and flashier, Sentimental Value is a masterpiece of intimate storytelling, processing trauma with an almost uncanny level of empathy for the human condition.
Director Joachim Trier reunites with Renate Reinsve from their previous collaboration on The Worst Person in the World, which was stellar in its own right. Here Reinsve plays Nora, a well-known stage actress who battles constantly with stage fright and panic attacks as she forges a career in experimental theatre, itself a means to distinguish herself from her father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), an acclaimed filmmaker. As opening narration demonstrates, Gustav and his late wife dealt with some severe emotional issues that ultimately ended their marriage. When they split, Gustav departed, leaving Nora and her sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) largely on their own, their estrangement only interrupted by brief visits and their occasional inclusion in Gustav’s movies. Their family home, where Gustav’s own mother once committed suicide, is an excellently appointed emotional prison with a figurative and literal flaw in its foundation that results in an unsightly crack running up one of the sides.
Upon the death of the family matriarch, Gustav returns, kiboshing any plans to sell the house, but also attempting to reestablish a connection with his daughters. Agnes is somewhat receptive, if nothing else than for the sake of her son Erik (Øyvind Hesjedal Loven), whom she believes has a right to know his grandfather, but Nora is adamant about keeping her distance. Gustav seems genuine in his desire to make amends, but is socially awkward and obliviously insensitive to the trauma he’s caused. This is made clear when he approaches Nora about starring in a new film he’s written, claiming the lead role was designed specifically for her, but all she sees is yet another crass exercise in nepotistic opportunism.
The dynamic between these three is amazing, because it’s soaked in complex, layered humanity. Gustav is a man who has seriously erred, but he’s also earnest in his attempts to reforge the bonds of family. He’s just woefully off in his approach. Agnes is kind and sympathetic, but refuses to be a doormat, and she holds both her father and Nora to account for all the directions they’ve pulled her over the years. Her assertive nature when it comes to Erik’s still relative innocence as a child is one of the more formidable character traits in a sea of fantastic development.
And then there’s Nora herself. The rest of the world has known that Renate Reinsve is one of the greatest actresses of her generation for quite some time, and between this, Worst Person, and A Different Man last year, American audiences are finally starting to get on board. Her performance as Nora is simply dazzling. She maintains this insane balance between measured and manic depending on the needs of the scene. One moment she’s in the melodramatic throws of a massive anxiety attack, where several stagehands have to restrain her just to get her to go out and do her job, and another she’s tight-lipped and tenderly stoic as she hears her father and sister out, only to lash out at them for not seeing her point of view. It’s clear from every facial tic that Nora has gone through something profound in her past, and it’s just as incumbent on her to properly convey that pain as it is for the others to understand and adjust to it. Honestly, I’ve seen some great turns this past year, but Reinsve’s my vote for Best Actress by a country mile.
With Nora no longer an option, Gustav turns to an unlikely backup to take the reins of his new project, an American actress named Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning, going two-for-two in successive years with solid supporting roles, proving she’s the real talent in her family and showing she can grow beyond the far lesser work of her childhood and early adulthood), who has enough of a celebrity profile to get Netflix on board to fund the picture. Rachel has a vibrant spirit and a touch of naivete that belies her professionalism. The current entertainment industry expects her to be this flighty ingenue who panders for social media engagement, but in reality she knows she has value as a performer and wants the challenge of a difficult film like the one Gustav has envisioned, including a climax recreating the day his mother took her own life. Their relationship is framed like an older man seeking a younger companion, but beneath that charade is a genuine, platonic rapport that hews closer to Gustav using Rachel to speed-run his way into absolution for his mistakes as a parent. It would be so easy to slide into a massive age gap attraction subplot, but Trier, along with Fanning and Skarsgård, are simply too smart for that.
Instead, the film continuously comes back to this essential idea of empathy and emotional intelligence. Before long, it becomes clear that Gustav is in denial about Rachel, trying to mold her into Nora rather than helping her understand the weight of what they’re doing. Agnes has to take a stand to prevent history from repeating itself when it comes to her relationship to both Gustav and Erik. Nora has to find a way to cope and take the first steps towards reconciliation, and that requires her to accept the possibility that the people who support her really do understand what she’s going through. And it’s all centered around this amazing exploration of the depths of despair that lead so many people to willfully end their own existence. Trust me, I’ve been down that road. I was lucky to make it back, and my heart breaks for everyone who doesn’t. And believe me, those demons have poked at me a lot over the last 18 months, reminding me that holding on to the gift that is life is the hardest war a person has to wage at times. Joachim Trier and his cast truly understand this thesis, and it works to incredible effect.
Do things get a bit too maudlin sometimes? Of course. It’s impossible not to. Are there superfluous scenes that don’t really add to the proceedings? Sure. There’s a particular bit where Rachel tries to affect a Norwegian accent that doesn’t go anywhere, and the inclusion/invocation of Netflix at the same time that they’re actively trying to buy out one of the most storied studios in film history and put the final nail in the theatrical model of cinema is a bit of meta tone deafness on the filmmakers’ parts. Am I petty enough to deduct a point because Renate Reinsve is not my girlfriend? For the sake of this joke, why not? On the whole, all of this maybe docks half a grade, and you can easily set it aside (especially that last silly bit). There are a couple of plot threads that aren’t completely resolved, and the narration is inconsistent/unnecessary if you’re looking for actual flaws.
But honestly, I’m okay with it, because more than anything else, Sentimental Value is all about showing that the human experience is a process. There aren’t easy answers, and a convenient fade to black doesn’t solve all the problems in one fell swoop. This is a story about acknowledgement, about recognizing that even the well-adjusted don’t always have it together, and that we all need help once in a while. The important thing is a willingness to come to terms with that need, to accept the help when it’s offered, and to open oneself up to the possibility of healing, even if it takes a lifetime. Even a cracked foundation can be repaired, if you’re willing to put in the work and trust in those who know how.
Grade: A
Join the conversation in the comments below! What film should I review next? Just how stacked is this year’s International Feature competition? Seriously, can I get ONE date with Reinsve? Let me know! And remember, you can follow me on Twitter (fuck “X”) as well as Bluesky, and subscribe to my YouTube channel for even more content, and check out the entire BTRP Media Network at btrpmedia.com!
I Actually Paid To See This 