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Summary Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star. Suddenly, the two sisters must navigate their com...
Directed By: Joachim Trier
Written By: Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
Sentimental Value
6.5
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Summary Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star. Suddenly, the two sisters must navigate their com...
Directed By: Joachim Trier
Written By: Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier
Where to Watch
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 37 Critic Reviews
86
92% Positive
34 Reviews
34 Reviews
8% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim Based on 37 Critic Reviews
86
92% Positive
34 Reviews
34 Reviews
8% Mixed
3 Reviews
3 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Nov 13, 2025
Sentimental Value, one of the year’s best films, is an absorbing, beautifully drawn family drama that walks lightly, but goes deep.
May 22, 2025
The characters are so fleshed-out, the diction so lived-in, the backstories and present stories so engaging. Their conversations seem less like scripted scenes than real moments lucky to have been captured. In creating a relatively small and recognizable film that can feel revelatory, Trier shows sleight of hand that could only belong to a young veteran at the height of his career.
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 45 User Ratings
6.5
58% Positive
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
20% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
22% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 45 User Ratings
6.5
58% Positive
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
20% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
22% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
Nov 30, 2025
Trier knows exactly which dots not to connect. ‘Sentimental Value’ leaves itself open for contemplation without ever feeling willfully withholding.
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Nov 24, 2025
Trier gives all four of these characters—and the actors who play them, all brilliant— the space to process their related sets of unsettled emotions.
May 22, 2025
Following a failed father and filmmaker attempting to connect with his daughters by turning the former family home into a set, Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value is a subtle yet sweeping tapestry of art, family and connection that takes the breath away.
Nov 7, 2025
Sentimental Value is a drama about one family, but it could also be a message in a bottle for the greater world. Larkin, a proto-punk, poked fun at the way humans, just by procreating, pass their worst traits to their children and beyond, through infinity. Trier has much more hope, and his tender punk manifesto echoes something the English clergyman and historian Thomas Fuller said more than three centuries ago: Charity begins at home, but it shouldn’t end there.
Aug 12, 2025
The film’s multi-layered structure supports a familiar but often profoundly affecting tale of intergenerational family conflict.
May 22, 2025
It’s a baggy comedy, sentimental in ways that are not entirely intentional, but there is value, too.
Nov 7, 2025
"Sentimental Value" is a wise, tender and genuinely heartfelt portrait of a dysfunctional family. Joachim Trier creates a work of art that lingers, not because of what he shows us on screen, but because of the thoughts it stirs about our own families, our failings, and the quiet beauty of trying to heal. Two sisters reunite with their charismatic but absent father, as art and past wounds collide in a film about healing, memory, and forgiveness in this poignant family drama. After the death of their mother, estranged sisters Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes Borg (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) are unexpectedly reunited with their father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), a charismatic and once-renowned film director. Hoping to stage both a cinematic and familial comeback, Gustav offers Nora, a gifted but emotionally volatile stage actress, the lead role in his new film. When Nora refuses, he swiftly recasts her with rising Hollywood star Rachel Kemp, setting off a quiet storm of tension, betrayal, and buried resentment. With Rachel inserted into the fractured dynamic, the sisters must confront a lifetime of unresolved pain and the complicated legacy of the father who abandoned them. Written by Joachim Trier and longtime collaborator Eskil Vogt, "Sentimental Value" marks a poignant return for Trier, reuniting him with Renate Reinsve following their celebrated work on The Worst Person in the World. The film also stars Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Stellan Skarsgård, and Elle Fanning in a cross-cultural ensemble that is both emotionally rich and beautifully restrained. The family dynamic at the heart of the film is so intricately drawn and painfully authentic that it almost feels too real. Reinsve delivers a career-best performance as Nora, navigating rage, regret, and vulnerability with stunning control. Skarsgård is equally compelling as Gustav, effortlessly blending charm and narcissism into a character that’s hard to forgive but impossible to ignore. Lilleaas brings quiet strength to Agnes, whose more subdued pain adds a crucial counterpoint to her sister’s volatility. Some of the others actors is this are very underrated with Anders Danielsen Lie who was in "The Worst Person in the World" with Renate Reinsve playing Jakob, Nora's colleague and fellow actors on stage that she's in a romantic relationship with despite him being married and not happy with his home life. That actor could've been played any actor but because we're so familiar seeing him with Reinsve it makes the audience want them to be together and when he says he can't even after he's gets a divorce from his wife it leaves a lasting impact on you. Also great performances from Andreas Stoltenberg Granerud as Even Pettersen, Agnes' husband and young actor Øyvind Hesjedal Loven as Erik, Agnes and Even's nine-year old son who has such a great relationship with his Auntie Nora who really cares for him. Jesper Christensen who is best for his role as "Mr. White" in Daniel Craig's James Bond series ("Casino Royale," "Quantum of Solace" and "Spectre") is really brilliant as Gustav's producer Michael, who is discussing and planning him movie with him and has great rapport with him throughout. Even for those unfamiliar with this kind of familial trauma, the performances invite deep empathy. Each actor inhabits their role with such conviction that the emotional complexity of their relationships feels entirely natural, even in their most uncomfortable moments. Trier’s storytelling exists in a carefully constructed duality: a film about making a film, past versus present, nature versus nurture. He explores how two sisters, raised in the same fractured home, can emerge with such vastly different wounds. Where many films stumble in their meta-narratives, Trier maintains a sharp and accessible structure. The film-within-a-film concept is handled with clarity, especially in Nora’s staged performances, which are thoughtfully placed and never confusing. The nonlinear timeline is introduced early and handled deftly, serving the emotional rhythm of the story rather than distracting from it. As its title suggests, "Sentimental Value" leans into emotion, but never cheaply. Trier guides us through a raw and intimate journey of reconciliation, self-examination, and quiet growth. It’s a story about what we inherit not just from our families, but from the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. By the end, each character, and perhaps each viewer, has softened slightly.
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Nov 15, 2025
When a film has the capacity to provide a template for overcoming domestic discord, promoting forgiveness and helping to heal one’s past, it’s to be truly commended for going beyond being mere entertainment or even an admired artform. It aspires to become a noble, laudable cinematic godsend, one verging on providing a valuable service to those requiring much-needed guidance and direction in their lives. At the risk of exaggeration, such is the case with the latest offering from writer-director Joachim Trier, arguably the best work of his storied career. When aging, esteemed Scandinavian filmmaker Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård) unexpectedly reconnects with the family from which he has long been estranged, his two adult daughters, Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), are baffled by his sudden reentry into their lives. After years of conflict and incessant arguing with his wife, Gustav departed without warning, leaving his now-recently deceased spouse to raise their two daughters on her own. Despite the challenges associated with such circumstances, Nora would go on to become a successful, if troubled and lonely, stage actress, while Agnes went on to live a comparatively stable life as a wife and mother. Gustav, meanwhile, launched into a noteworthy filmmaking career, though, due to the onset of failing health and problem drinking, he hasn’t worked on a new project for some time. However, with his re-emergence into his daughters’ lives, he now hopes to change that – by making a movie that he views as a legacy production, a less-than-veiled autobiographical piece that he claims to have written for Nora and for which he would like her to play the lead. But, given the longstanding bitterness between Nora and her father, she turns him down, a major setback for his plans to proceed – that is, until Gustav meets a young American rising star, Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), to whom he offers the part. The director’s casting choice, in turn, unleashes a barrage of new emotional turmoil, some of which involves rehashing the past and other parts of which uncover new, previously concealed issues involving both Gustav and his daughters, as well as family members from his own past. At the same time, taking on the role of Gustav’s protagonist pushes Rachel to examine her role in this complex scenario, both for the development of her own career as an actress and how she fits into what is clearly a metaphorical vehicle for sorting out Borg family drama. As challenging as all of this can be for everyone involved, however, it also provides the players with an opportunity for healing, personal and professional growth, and a fresh start for the future. The question is, can they rise to the occasion? Filmmaker Trier thus embarks on a rather involved storyline (sometimes a little too involved for its own good), but the narrative nevertheless eagerly takes on the ambitious task of intertwining various aspects of art and life and how one might be drawn upon to address the challenges and opportunities of the other. While the picture might potentially be seen as a little overlong, the director manages to successfully cover considerable ground without belaboring his material or incorporating extraneous elements. Moreover, the deftly penned screenplay effectively keeps the picture from becoming too heavy-handed through the inclusion of strategically placed comic relief, including several delightfully witty nudges at a well-known Scandinavian furniture retailer. These assets are further enhanced by this release’s gorgeous, creative cinematography and the superb performances of its fine cast, particularly Reinsve, Skarsgård and Fanning, all of whom turn in decidedly award-worthy portrayals representing some of the best work of their respective careers. As the winner of the Grand Prize of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and a nominee for the event’s Palme d’Or (the festival’s highest honor), “Sentimental Value” is yet another standout effort from this gifted Norwegian filmmaker, one very much in the same vein as – if not, arguably, even better than – his eminently praiseworthy previous offering, “The Worst Person in the World” (“Verdens verste menneske”) (2021). Keep an eye on this one as movie awards season unfolds.
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Nov 28, 2025
Stellan Skarsgård plays a renowned cinema director who reunites with his daughters after years of estrangement (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas & Renate Reinsve). He has one final project and wants their participation. Toss in an American actor (Elle Fanning) who complicates things. This isn’t really about his film, but about the complex family dynamics that are explored. Writer/director Joachim Trier gets strong work out of his cast, even though it’s in typical Scandinavian style with nuanced reactions and reserved emotions. As I described it in his last film, “The Worst Person in the World,” (my review) “The performances are subtle, but effective…offering unsentimental and honest examinations of their relationships.” This European export will appeal to those who appreciate this type of underplayed, quietly probing drama.
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Production Company
- Mer Film
- Eye Eye Pictures
- MK2 Productions
- Lumen Production
- Komplizen Film
- BBC Film
- Film i Väst
- Oslo Filmfond
- Arte France Cinéma
- Mediefondet Zefyr
- Alaz Film
- ZDF/Arte
- Don't Look Now
- Creative Europe
- Eurimages
- Normandy Regional Fund
- Zentropa Entertainments
- Zentropa International Sweden
Release Date Nov 7, 2025
Duration 2 h 12 m
Rating R
Genres
Awards
Astra Film Awards
• 9 Nominations
European Film Awards
• 8 Nominations
AARP Movies for Grownups Awards
• 3 Nominations
