January 31st: Sentimental Value
Sentimental Value
Released: 2025
Directed by: Joachim Trier
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning
When I was in college, we had to read Henrik Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House. I will admit, I didn’t get it. It felt like a dreary, depressing mess. I worried the same for this film, of an estranged family dealing with generational trauma. It is a beautifully acted story of a father and daughter coming to grips with the sadness that permeates their lives. How it was caused by one another. Caused by their family’s past. Caused by their own mistakes.
Stellan Skarsgård is an actor I would willingly watch in anything. He knocks it out of the park here as Gustav Borg. On the surface, he appears as a self-centered bad father with alcohol issues who despite that, or perhaps because of that, is a brilliant filmmaker. It’s the subtle acting moments that reveal a more complex person. Someone who does regret his past, not just with his daughters. But also someone who doesn’t know how to reckon with that past no matter how much he wants to reconnect. I legitimately don’t know who I think is a better choice for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, him or Benicio del Toro in One Battle After Another. Or even Delroy Lindo in Sinners.
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Renate Reinsve is a revelation as the older of his daughters, Nora. While she would be loathe to admit it, she is strikingly similar to her father. Wanting love and care but not feeling strong enough in herself to really deserve it. Neither character knows their place in the world and that has as much to do with parents disappearing in their childhoods as anything. The pattern of this generational trauma is set. Reinsve also does really well with small actions that make room for the bigger actions that she takes when overwhelmed. Brilliant performance.
Small Observations:
- Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas is great as the younger daughter. The one who is holding it together on the outside but is being driven mad by both her father and her sister’s cold war with each other.
- Elle Fanning is so good as the American actress trying to be in one of Borg’s films. There are a couple scenes where she is so genuine with her performance it makes it seem so real.
- There is a scene where they use either some footage from an older film with Skarsgård or they de-aged him. With some slight research, it turns out it is archived footage from an old Swedish film called The Domestic Terrorist. The fact that I had to question it shows how seamlessly the effects were.
- MCU actors: 1
Overall Rank: S
I was surprised with how much I liked this film. I fully expected to have the college-Me experience that I had with Ibsen. But no. The acting is superb. The characters seem so real. Brilliant film. Go watch it. Strongly Recommended.
