The film Sentimental Value is a masterpiece that has garnered overwhelming acclaim from critics worldwide, winning the prestigious Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and earning an astonishing eight nominations at the Academy Awards (Oscars). Directed by Norway's representative filmmaker Joachim Trier, this highly anticipated new release attracted immense attention from movie fans long before its premiere, simply based on the news of its triumphant festival run. Its outstanding cinematic quality and artistry were further recognized internationally when it won Best Film Not in the English Language at the BAFTA Awards, the highest honor in the British film industry. It is a truly overwhelming work of art that draws audiences to the theater based solely on its weighty title and the halo of its award season glory, without the need for grandiose background information.
The original Norwegian title of the film, Affeksjonsverdi, translates to Sentimental Value in English, carrying the profound meaning of emotional worth and attachment. Interestingly, because of the commanding and heavy presence of the legendary actor Stellan Skarsgård, who anchors the narrative, viewers may find themselves under the illusion that they are watching a Swedish film until the very end of the screening. The distinctly cold, contemplative, and uniquely Nordic atmosphere he exudes on screen harmonizes flawlessly with the chilly, desolate landscapes of Norway. Together, these elements complete a massive cinematic canvas that brilliantly showcases the absolute essence of Northern European film art.
Director Joachim Trier, who took the megaphone for this project, is already a familiar auteur to international and domestic fans alike, having created a global syndrome with his previous highly acclaimed feature, The Worst Person in the World. The sophisticated directing and intricate psychological portrayals of the human inner self, which were vividly demonstrated in his previous work—currently available on various streaming platforms like Netflix—have become even deeper and more mature in Sentimental Value. Expanding his gaze from the anxious self-portraits of youth, Trier this time weaves the heavy themes of lifelong familial love and hatred, profound loss, and the agonizing dilemma of the artist into his own entirely original and breathtaking aesthetic.
The fact that Hollywood star Elle Fanning appears as a major cast member in such a weighty Northern European art house film is in itself highly intriguing and unconventional. Willingly crossing the barriers of language and culture to join a Norwegian film was likely made possible only by the actor's absolute trust in Joachim Trier's masterful directing capabilities. Within the narrative, Elle Fanning plays the role of 'Rachel,' a Hollywood actress who finds herself in an unfamiliar environment with a different language and culture. She brilliantly portrays a multi-dimensional character who constantly agonizes and clashes over the deep acting interpretation of a specific role, thereby significantly elevating the meta-cinematic entertainment value of the film.
As is often the case with highly artistic films—so-called 'art house cinema'—this movie also does not begin by kindly explaining the background of its narrative to the audience. The opening of the film silently captures the panoramic view of a serene house painted in an intense, striking red hue, accompanied by a low, ambiguous narration whose speaker remains entirely unclear. This deliberate unfriendliness in the introduction is a highly calculated and meticulous directorial choice. It forces the audience to suspend immediate situational judgment and encourages them to rely solely on their senses and intuition to gather the subtle, microscopic clues the film subtly scatters along the way.
Following the ambiguous opening sequence, the screen immediately presents the raw, extremely unstable psychological state of the protagonist 'Nora Borg,' played by Renate Reinsve. In a space that appears to be a waiting room right before stepping onto the stage, Nora pants agonizingly, exhibiting severe hyperventilation symptoms induced by a crippling anxiety disorder. At the exact moment the heartless opening bell rings to announce the start of the performance, she is seized by extreme terror and attempts to flee blindly, but is ultimately caught by the theater staff and forcibly pushed onto the stage. The precarious, trembling image of Nora standing before a massive auditorium filled with audiences under the bright, glaring stage lights creates a striking contrast and evokes a strange, palpable tension.
Immediately after Nora's suffocating theatrical stage scene, the film shifts its perspective straight back to the interior of the previously shown red house, without any kindly explanations or smooth transitional links. This is the auteur's signature storytelling method—unfriendly yet undeniably captivating—maximizing the beauty of empty space and leaving the omitted narrative voids entirely up to the audience's imagination to fill. The interior of the house, where numerous people have gathered in heavy, suffocating silence, bears the undeniable, solemn atmosphere of a funeral home in mourning. It is finally revealed that this is a sorrowful and heavy gathering where the surviving family and friends have come together to bid their final farewells to the deceased after Nora's mother passed away.
At her mother's funeral, Nora endures the profound grief alongside her younger biological sister, 'Agnes,' played by Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas. In that sorrowful and static air, when Agnes delivers the news that "Dad will be here soon," Nora's face is cast not with welcoming relief, but with a deep shadow of displeasure. Their father is 'Gustav,' played by Stellan Skarsgård, an undeniably great film director who enjoys worldwide fame, but who is a thoroughly failed figure in the history of their family. He was an irresponsible father who unilaterally announced his divorce and abandoned the house when his two daughters were very young, and since then, he has lived a disconnected life, completely severing ties with his family.
Breaking a long, heavy silence, Gustav appears and makes a unilateral and entirely selfish proposal to the grieving Nora: he claims to have written a brand-new script keeping only her in mind, and suggests they produce the film together. However, Nora coldly rejects him without even bothering to flip through the script her father offers, and consequently, the role ends up going to the Hollywood actress Rachel (played by Elle Fanning). For Gustav, who had fallen into a severe creative slump and had not taken the director's chair for a very long time, this project was a desperate endeavor that could virtually become the posthumous work concluding his cinematic life. Yet, the deeply carved chasm of their family history does not easily grant him even his artistic ambitions.
Behind Nora's uncompromising refusal lies not only deep-seated resentment toward the father who irresponsibly abandoned the family, but also a complex mix of love and hatred toward the mother who neglected and failed to properly care for her remaining children. Amidst the complete absence of parental care, Nora, the older sister, devotedly looked after her younger sister Agnes as if taking the place of their parents. Thanks to her sacrifices, Agnes was able to grow up relatively well-adjusted and smooth. However, Nora herself, who had to bear the full brunt of those heavy life burdens and traumas, survives each passing day even in adulthood while harboring a precarious psychological state, constantly suffering from severe anxiety disorders and hyperventilation.
In the film, Gustav self-deprecatingly confesses, "I have now become too timid to create great and proper art like I did in the past." This symbolizes his agonizing remorse; he achieved monumental success and worldwide acclaim as an artist, but at the devastating cost of shattering his relationships with his most precious family members. In the face of the cruel law of 'equivalent exchange'—the harsh reality that one cannot have absolutely everything in the world—the aging and frail artist's regrets leave a deeply bitter aftertaste. Ironically, Gustav, who dedicated his entire life to cinema, belittles and looks down upon the genre of theater. Yet, the daughter he loves and wants to be acknowledged by the most, Nora, walks the path of a stage actress, sustaining her precarious life solely upon the theatrical stage.
In the latter half of the drama, Rachel, who had been struggling with the script written by Gustav, finally raises the white flag, confessing that she completely fails to fully understand the deep inner workings of the character. This is because, from the very beginning, the script was a unique text that Gustav had written by projecting the deep scars and essence of his own daughter, Nora—a role into which only Nora could breathe true life. The film eloquently argues that although human emotions may sometimes appear irrational and impulsive, they are ultimately governed by the complex causal relationships accumulated beneath the surface. Gustav, Nora, and Agnes, who had been disconnected for so long, eventually communicate their emotions and scars through the medium of art, seeking to restore their torn relationships, however imperfectly. The reason why the process of loss and healing experienced by a Norwegian family on the other side of the globe resonates so deeply with us is likely because the film perfectly proves just how intense and beautiful the universally valid emotion of human attachment truly is.
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