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Sentimental Value
2025 Norwegian comedy-drama film by Joachim Trier From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Sentimental Value (Norwegian: Affeksjonsverdi) is a 2025 comedy-drama film directed by Joachim Trier, who co-wrote it with Eskil Vogt. It stars Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Elle Fanning. It follows a fractured relationship between an acclaimed director and his two estranged daughters, which becomes even more complicated when he decides to make a personal film about their family history.
The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May, where it received widespread critical acclaim and won the Grand Prix.[4][5] It was theatrically released in Norway on 12 September by Nordisk Film. It was selected as the Norwegian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards.[6]
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Plot
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After film director Gustav Borg and psychotherapist Sissel end their troubled marriage, Gustav uses the divorce as an excuse to leave Norway and focus on his career. Sissel raises daughters Nora and Agnes in their Oslo home, which Gustav's family has owned for generations. In adulthood, Agnes works as a historian and is married with a son. Nora becomes a fairly successful actress, although she suffers from crippling bouts of stage fright. She is having an affair with her married colleague Jakob.
After Sissel dies, Gustav returns to Norway to reclaim the house. His daughters have grown to resent him for his extended absences and his drinking problem, although Agnes is more sympathetic to him. He tries to reconcile with his daughters, but their conversations are frequently derailed by his microaggressions and lack of emotional intelligence. He has a better relationship with Agnes' young son Erik, but even then, he primarily connects with Erik through movies.
Gustav's career is on the decline. He has trouble getting financing for his projects. His latest script was inspired by his mother Karin, a member of the Norwegian resistance movement who was tortured during the Nazi occupation. Karin committed suicide in the family home when Gustav was seven. Gustav proposes to film the movie in the actual home and to recreate Karin's suicide in the movie's climactic scene. He asks Nora to play her grandmother. Nora refuses to read the script.
To replace Nora, Gustav hires American actress Rachel Kemp. Kemp's stardom convinces Netflix to finance the project. The production grows troubled. Gustav resents working with Netflix. Kemp, unable to speak Norwegian, grows self-conscious about the fact that Gustav had to translate the script into English for her. Nora is put off by the fact that Gustav treats Kemp with more empathy than his daughters.
Jakob divorces his wife but refuses to commit to Nora, and Gustav infuriates Nora by suggesting that her internal rage prevents her from finding love. Nora loses interest in work. Agnes has a row with Gustav after he casts her son in the movie without her permission. She is reminded of Gustav casting her in a movie to connect with her, and bitterly remarks that the film did not make up for his general failure to spend time with her. Kemp realizes that Gustav is still preoccupied with Nora. To restore his creative freedom, she quits the film. That evening, Gustav goes outside and drunkenly throws a middle finger at the house before falling asleep.
To understand her father better, Agnes visits the National Archives of Norway to read her grandmother's statement to the post-war government about her torture, which she otherwise refused to discuss with anyone. Sensing that Karin passed on her generational trauma to Gustav, she reads Gustav's script. She realizes that while the film's plot is inspired by Karin, its emotional arc reflects his sincere regrets about his broken relationship with Nora. Moved, Nora agrees to join the film.
Gustav and producer Michael find the money to make the film without Kemp. A flash-forward shows the house being repainted and heavily renovated to fit modern tastes. Nora performs the climactic scene. After the final take, she exchanges an understanding look with her father.
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Cast
- Renate Reinsve as Nora Borg,[7] an actress from Oslo
- Stellan Skarsgård as Gustav Borg, a celebrated film director and Nora and Agnes' father
- Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as Agnes Borg Pettersen, Nora's sister
- Elle Fanning as Rachel Kemp, a famous American actress who plays the lead in Gustav's new film
- Anders Danielsen Lie as Jakob, Nora's theater colleague and romantic interest
- Jesper Christensen as Michael, Gustav's producer
- Lena Endre as Ingrid Berger
- Cory Michael Smith as Sam, Rachel's colleague
- Catherine Cohen as Nicky, Rachel's colleague
- Andreas Stoltenberg Granerud as Even Pettersen, Agnes' husband
- Øyvind Hesjedal Loven as Erik, Agnes and Even's son
- Lars Väringer as Peter, Gustav's retired cinematographer
- Ida Marianne Vassbotn Klasson as Sissel Borg, Gustav's ex-wife and Nora and Agnes' mother
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Production
Principal photography commenced in August 2024 in Oslo.[8][9][10]
Release
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On 10 April 2025, Sentimental Value was announced to be competing for the Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 21 May 2025 and received a 19-minute standing ovation.[11][12][13] The film's trailer was released on 1 July.[14]
Neon bought the distribution rights for North America in May 2024 at the Cannes Film Festival when the film was first announced.[15] In April 2025, Mubi announced that they had acquired rights to the film for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India.[16] It was also screened in Open Air Premiere Programme at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival in August 2025.[17] It was released in France on 20 August 2025 by Memento.[18] It was released in the United States on 7 November 2025 by Neon.[19] It will release in Spain on 5 December 2025 by Elastica,[20] and in the United Kingdom on 26 December by Mubi.[21]
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Reception
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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 97% of 125 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Deftly exploring the uneasy tension between artistic expression and personal connection, Sentimental Value is a bracingly mature work from writer-director Joachim Trier that's marvelously acted across the board."[22] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 87 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[23]
In June 2025, IndieWire ranked the film at number 21 on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far)".[24]
Accolades
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See also
References
External links
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