Our take
The craft of filmmaking is a personal one. Many a film has touched upon how jarringly vulnerable it can be to carve out something from the heart for others to look at. Sentimental Value does the same. It does, except it expands past the one character and widens its focus to include their family. This domestic drama deals with the way the craft is so tied down by the artists’ relationships, from being the reason for the family’s connection and literal separation, to exposing the real emotion of an artist, even when they take great pains to conceal it. Sentimental Value balances it all with subtle grace.
What it won
Cannes
1 win
Golden Globes
7 noms
Nat. Board of Review
2 wins
LAFCA
1 win · 1 nom
The story
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.
Elsewhere
"Trier, aiming for a diaphanous touch, ends up with something perilously diagrammatic: more a blueprint for a drama than the drama itself. Thank goodness for actors: that’s part of the thesis of “Sentimental Value” and its own saving grace."
— Justin Chang
"Sentimental Value is moving in moments, and Trier and co-writer Eskil Vogt's dialogue is as sharp and quick-witted as ever."
— Hannah Strong
Who picked it
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
