Winner of the Cannes Prix at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Joachim Trier’s comedy drama Affeksjonsverdi (Sentimental Value) tells the story of two sisters, their estranged father and their childhood home in Oslo, Norway. The story was co-written by Trier and Eskil Vogt, who beautifully interweave the present narrative with stories of the previous generations who inhabited the house.
Review by Franca Lafosse
In fact, this house, which is a recurring motif from beginning to end, acts as a character in itself; one who feels and observes the family growing apart, and through whom we witness the lives of past generations in the same rooms decades prior. From the opening shots of Sentimental Value, we are struck by the imposing presence of the building… and then we observe it in intimate detail: the colour of the walls, the indents of the wood, its ominous height from a young kid’s perspective. The house swiftly takes us on the journey of these sisters’ upbringing into their now adult lives, when their mother has just passed away. It is at the funeral of Nora and Agnes’s mother, that their father Gustav makes an appearance and, in a whirlwind, re-enters their lives after years of silence.
Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas give deeply moving performances as Nora and Agnes. They portray the comedy and heartbreak of navigating this new presence in their lives with unflinching honestly, helping each other work through the repressed memories and convoluted feelings that arise. Stellan Skarsgård, meanwhile, expertly balances Gustav’s painfully narcissistic attitude as an acclaimed director consumed by his next masterpiece, and his shortcomings as an estranged father who yearns to recreate the relationship he had with his daughters. His art, it seems, is the only bridge through which he can attempt to connect with them; he offers the leading part in his film to Nora, who refuses to work with him, and proposes to Agnes that her son could play the child in the story, which is also faced with rejection.
Early on in the film, at a Q&A following the retrospective screening of Gustav’s documentary, we learn that Agnes too performed in her father’s last movie when she was young. Gustav recalls one of his fondest memories was how the film was ‘made with family’ (both literally, due to his daughter being on set, as well as affectionately referring to his crew). However, when driven to finish the project after Nora turns down the lead part, Gustav enlists Hollywood celebrity Rachel Kemp, faithfully played by Elle Fanning, and secures a deal with Netflix. This blows up the scale of the project into something he is ‘no longer in control’ of, and we are once again reminded of the initial description of the childhood home, whose walls were covered in cracks due to a structural problem within its foundation.
Throughout the events that follow, we are forced to question whether Gustav’s new fixation is a veiled excuse to reach out to his daughters, or if his true objective is to recreate the happiest memories of his younger years to secure the success of his anticipated autobiographical screenplay, and thus reclaim his career. Trier’s narrative is curiously deconstructed and rearranged into an intuitive order, told in the non-linear way in which it is remembered, with crucial details that swiftly complicate the story being unveiled just when you thought you could safely write off one character as the bad guy, or another as the protagonist.
With Gustav working as a film director and Nora as a theatre actress, this story also deconstructs the mystique of the film and theatre industries, exposing the problems, anxieties and arguments exchanged between actors and directors before the curtain’s raised or the camera rolls. At its core, Sentimental Values interrogates the link between the personal and creative life of an artist, the role of art and creation as therapy versus art as a distraction from reality, and acts as an important reminder that stories from the heart have the power to bring people together, to capture that which we don’t have the courage to admit to one another face to face.
A truly impressive list of collaborators, producers, sponsors and ‘thank you’s, including 9 production companies and collaborations between 6 countries, rolls once the climactic final scene comes to an end. The extensive team behind Sentimental Value echoes the overarching moral that film should be made with family, that it should be a labour of love and a process of collaboration. As Gustav’s right-hand man, DOP Peter played by Lars Väringer proclaims: ‘you’re gonna make this film dammit, but do it your way!’.
Sentimental Value is set to have its Australian release on December 25th of this year, screening across Palace Cinemas, Event Cinemas and Cinema Nova.
Review by Franca Lafosse