Sentimental Value starts with a narration of the history of a house, a gorgeous piece of Norwegian folk architecture that looks like a relic in modern Oslo. Generations of the Borg family have been born, lived, loved, fought, reconciled, and died within its walls. The building itself is portrayed as a character, a living breathing memory of all the lives that have passed through. It’s a lovely introduction, establishing a rich sense of time and place and mood. But once the main story begins, that feeling is thrown out of the proverbial window.
The rest of Sentimental Value becomes a disjointed family drama centered on two adult sisters and their long-estranged father, who reappears after their mother’s death. Patriarch Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård), now a famous film director, shows up unexpectedly at the funeral. Older sister Nora (Renate Reinsve) wants nothing to do with their father, while Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) is more forgiving.
Nora is a bit of a hot mess. We are introduced to her in a wild and funny scene of her having a panic attack before she steps out onstage as a lead performer at the National Theatre. She clearly struggles with anxiety and depression, stemming back from her childhood when Gustav left his young family. She’s having an ill-advised affair with her married colleague, she can’t deal with packing up her mother’s house, and she’s appalled that her father’s attempt at reconciliation is a guise for getting her to star in his next film.
Gustav, meanwhile, thinks his new screenplay, his first film in 15 years, is one of his best. While at the Cannes Film Festival, he meets hot Hollywood actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), who sees as a surrogate daughter for him, aka the star he needs for his movie since his own daughter refuses to even read the script. Rachel is intrigued and flattered with the offer of the role, if genuinely hesitant. She knows her limits, and struggles to see how she fits into his vision of a tale of a Norwegian mother (based on Gustav’s own mom) who kills herself after sending her young son off to school. Did I mention Gustav wants to film it in the family house that he abandoned years ago, in the same room that his own mother actually killed herself when he was seven?
I couldn’t help but think that Elle Fanning, just like her character Rachel Kemp, was miscast. She’s an actress that I’ve enjoyed in other movies, but here I found myself wondering if her miscasting was trick by Trier, a sort of meta move showing indeed an American actress in a Scandinavian movie is an awkward fit.
The lead performances by Reinsve and Skarsgård, however, are terrific. Reinsve, who has become something of a muse for director Joachim Trier, balances Nora’s pain and dark humor with nuance. Skarsgård plays Gustav as self-centered, capable of fatherly warmth only toward the young American actress, unable to see how profoundly he hurts his own daughters by viewing them as potential collaborators rather than family.
For me, at least, Sentimental Value ultimately felt disjointed. Did it want to be about the sisters, or the dad, or the dad’s relationship with his daughters, or his relationship with the American actress? Some great moments are given room to breathe (like Nora’s panic attack at the theater) while others, like Gustav’s time at Cannes, seemed to be a tangential scene that went on too long, distracting from the more engaging scenes back in Norway. I’m probably in the minority here (after all, this film won the Grand Prix at Cannes), but I found the film kind of frustrating. I agree there is definitely a really good movie in here, but I felt like blowing it up and piecing it back together in the editing room.
