Sentimental Value is a film you walk with—a slow, meditative stroll along the shore, turning over past mistakes and old ghosts. That’s precisely what Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård) is attempting. An acclaimed film director attending retrospectives of his work, Gustav hasn’t made a new film in fifteen years. When his latest idea for a movie reunites him with his estranged daughters, he faces the resentment that has piled up from years of neglect.
Directed by Joachim Trier, whose breakout 2021 film The Worst Person in the World tugged at the heartstrings of a generation of lost twenty-somethings, Sentimental Value paints a broader, bolder canvas with even more emotional depth. Where Worst Person took a magnifying glass onto a young woman finding her footing, Sentimental Value zooms to an older man who seems to have lost his.
On top of Trier’s top-tier direction, a nuanced performance from Skarsgård and a deeply resonant Renate Reinsve enhance this carefully crafted critique of a father’s shortcomings and an artist’s attempts at rectifying the past.
The movie opens with a performance of Chekhov’s The Seagull. Gustav’s eldest daughter, Nora (Reinsve), is a theater actress playing Nina. The play is a telling introduction to the dynamic between Nora and Gustav, a relationship that is the heart and soul of Sentimental Value. While her father is out bumbling about like a drunk seagull on the shore, aimlessly chasing his whimsies, Nora is trapped. Not only is she physically constrained in her costume’s corset, but she’s also stuck in her head, suffering from the phobias and traumas that have clung to her like leeches throughout her tumultuous upbringing.
After a screening of one of his films, Gustav wanders on a nearby beach with Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), a Hollywood star with the kind of pull Gustav needs to fund his new movie. They drink champagne against the backdrop of a beautiful beach while Nora suffers from panic attacks and stage fright against the backdrop of the theater’s shadowy Chekovian set. In the first of the film’s many fade-to-black transitions, which evoke a sense of stitching together a disjointed family, the underlying tone of dread established in the theater bleeds seamlessly into the next scene: Nora’s mother’s funeral.
Alongside her younger sister Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), Nora is shocked by Gustav’s arrival at the funeral after his absence for years. Gustav immediately tells Nora they need to talk. He wants her to star in his new film, having written the script with her in mind.
The father-daughter duo embarks on a rocky journey to reconciliation. It’s rocky in the same way an ocean’s waves ebb and flow. Little miracles of connection meet moments of failure. It’s not an easy path, but it’s obviously the one worth pursuing. Unfortunately, Gustav just doesn’t know how to go about it. It’s a concept Trier explores in depth in Sentimental Value. How do artists communicate? Through their art.
As a father, Gustav can only express his love for his daughters accurately through film. He cast Agnes in one of his earlier movies, which was troublesome for her as she felt her father’s attention so deeply, only for it to disappear after filming. Now, it’s Nora’s turn. His latest project is for her. In the script, Gustav’s true feelings about their disjointed relationship are laid bare. Nora doesn’t accept the role.
Ironically, the Rachel Kemp subplot is the film’s muddiest patch. After being cast in the role intended for Nora, Rachel ultimately decides she’s not the right actress for the part. While Fanning is gripping, as always, I can’t help but think Trier could have followed suit in cutting the role altogether. Rachel primarily serves as a reminder to Gustav of where his focus as a father (and director) should lie. However, the story (in both Sentimental Value and the movie-within-the-movie) hits its stride when the spotlight is on Gustav and his daughters.
As its two-hour runtime breezes by, the ending sneaks up on you. Just when you think you may have eschewed the film’s emotional tugs, Trier guts you like a holiday turkey. The ease with which he does this is astonishing. A few final lingering close-ups pack a potent punch.
Ultimately, despite a couple of scattered subplots, Sentimental Value shines brightest in its exploration of the complex relationships between Gustav and his daughters. There’s an unforgettable, hypnotizing montage toward the end of the movie that seamlessly rotates between the faces of Gustav, Agnes, and Nora. It serves no narrative purpose and stands alone, unexplained. But within the context of the film, it embodies this notion of what gets passed down in our lineage—whether that’s generational trauma, a love for filmmaking, the bridge of one’s nose, or any of those secret items that hold sentimental value.
Review Courtesy of Kasey Dunifer
Feature Image Credit to Neon via The Movie Database