The things we are reluctant to say to one another are the things that are on the tip of the tongue in Joachim Trier’s new film. Perhaps, more precisely, the muffled emotions are buried in the tongue-and-groove woodwork in the old Norwegian house that, in a different time, had sheltered the protagonists of Sentimental Value. Once a family, but now a detached group of blood relatives, a father and his two grown daughters wrestle with the muck created from the scars of the past and vague hopes for the future.
Paterfamilias Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård), a filmmaker of world-renown, returns to the family home after the death of his ex-wife. His two daughters Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) and Nora (Renate Reinsve) are not sure what to make of his unexpected appearance. Agnes, who is married and a parent herself, has maintained a relationship with him, although the bonds are somewhat strained and distant. Nora, however, resents her father for the things he left unsaid in her childhood and the emotional support she felt was lacking. A celebrated actress who suffers from crippling stage fright, Nora has little desire for reconciliation at this point in her life. Even when Gustav attempts to reach out, Nora rebukes him by saying, “You have no right to worry about me.”
The reason for Gustav’s return is his desire to shoot a film in the house, a semi-autobiographical film he had written with Nora in mind to play the lead. He, too, had grown up in that house under the eye of a troubled mother and hers was the part he eyed for Nora. When Nora rejects his offer in no uncertain terms, he turns to a young starlet from America (Elle Fanning) to play the roll. His grandson is also set to play young Gustav in the film. Generations of family identities and emotions coalesce and gently underscore the impossibility of escaping one’s history. Staying true to the story’s themes, Trier’s images convey – more than words do – the distances between the characters.
Sentimental Value reunites Trier with Renate Reinsve, the award-winning star of his last movie The Worst Person in the World, as well as with his frequent collaborator, co-screenwriter Eskil Vogt (Thelma, Oslo, August 31st). Winner of the Grand Prix at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Sentimental Value is also Norway’s official submission for consideration in the Best International Film category at the next Academy Awards. It’s a film for anyone who’s grown up in a family.
Sentimental Value
R, 133 min. Directed by Joachim Trier. Starring Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning, Anders Danielsen Lie, Jesper Christensen, Lena Endre, Cory Michael Smith.
