Following his widely acclaimed film “The Worst Person in the World,” filmmaker Joachim Trier returns with “Sentimental Value,” a tender study of family, memory and emotional dialects that link generations. Rather than constructing drama around overt conflict, Trier opts for subtlety, framing the story as an intimate contemplation of the soul where language, silence and gesture carry the weight of unsaid truths. The film debuted at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and took home the Grand Prix award.
On Nov. 9, Trier was joined by cast members Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas for a question-and-answer session moderated by IndieWire’s Head Film Critic David Ehrlich following a screening of the film at the AMC Lincoln Square 13 theater.
Trier positions language as both a bridge and a barrier, suggesting that what is meant is rarely spoken and vice versa.
“Sentimental Value” follows two sisters, Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Lilleaas), and their estranged father, Gustav (Skarsgård), whom they reunite with following the death of their mother. Gustav, a filmmaker whose art has eclipsed his ability to parent, reenters the sisters’ lives in full force. He asks Nora to star in his latest directorial project, which is set in their family home. Upon her refusal, he casts an established actress, Rachel Kemp (Fanning), in her place. What begins as a professional substitution gradually unravels intricate tensions of intimacy and estrangement within the family that have accumulated over decades.
The four main cast members deliver career-defining performances. Reinsve, who also starred in Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World,” breathes life into Nora, whose quiet and contemplative nature makes her anxieties more visceral to the viewer.
Reinsve spoke about finding Nora’s emotional truth: “I need a lot of time to kind of tap into something that feels authentic,” and credited Trier’s flexibility, as he made space for the cast to be “open and emotionally engaged” with “room to be authentic.” This emotional exposure became the backbone of the film.
As Gustav, Skarsgård delivers a portrait of raw vulnerability, illustrating a man whose strongest language has always been his art. Skarsgård described the role as playing “hard text” of dialogue and emotional material that reads, on paper, as stern and impenetrable, while adding vulnerability, revealing “the person behind the words.” The result is a character defined by his intentions rather than demonstrable impact, even at the cost of his relationship with his daughters.
Lilleaas characterized the younger daughter, Agnes, as someone who “could see everyone’s point of view,” ultimately defaulting her to the role of mediator. Lilleaas continued, saying Agnes becomes so “not because she wants to be, but because she has that ability.” Her quiet diplomacy grounds the family’s fractured dynamic.
Fanning’s Rachel Kemp brings an unexpected openness to the story. She expressed her surprise at the personal resonance she found in the role, noting that acting becomes “cathartic” because it offers space to act upon “things you feel in your real life that you can’t act upon … You can do it through your characters and process those emotions.”
Spoken mostly in Norwegian, the film uses language as one of its thematic frameworks. What is withheld, translated and understood is constantly changing, rather than guaranteed. Language and translation form the film’s emotional core, revealing gaps and fractures in human communication. This unfolds literally through the translation of Gustav’s film into English and Rachel Kemp’s resulting struggle to authentically access her character. Trier positions language as both a bridge and a barrier, suggesting that what is meant is rarely spoken and vice versa. The house in which the family grew up, too, becomes a site of translation. Its walls hold layers of memory, traumas and the conversations of past generations of Gustav’s family that continue to resonate with those who inhabit them. The house functions as both a backdrop and a vessel for memory.
Trier collaborated with cinematographer Kasper Tuxen again to bring forward the same visual intimacy that defined and elevated “The Worst Person in the World.” Together, they crafted a visual language built on warmth, stillness and the emotional charge of everyday spaces. This visual approach refuses spectacle in favor of closeness.
If “Sentimental Value” has a central thesis, it is that connection and communication are not linear concepts, especially within a family. Reinsve reflected at the end of the question-and-answer session that “the dynamic between us that kind of came and won’t leave us; we’re stuck in this family dynamic,” a statement that encapsulates the film’s suggestion that emotional bonds, even painful and unresolved ones, resist clean endings and absolute closure.
