Sentimental Value (2025)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on February 19, 2026 @ tonymacklin.net.

Is Sentimental Value underrated? Despite winning the Grand Prize at Cannes and receiving 8 Oscar nominations, it may be.

It's a film one has to grapple with.

Sentimental Value is a Norwegian film. As a foreign film it has depth, gravity, and irony. To get the full value, one has to plumb beneath the surface.

Sentimental Value is a film about a dysfunctional family, frustrated and troubled by the past. At its center is Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgard). There are two Gustavs -- one who is distant and the other who is seeking contact and closure. In a way, they strongly oppose each other.

Gustav has two estranged daughters, Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas). He returns home to his house near Oslo after his former wife Sissel (Marianne Vassbatn Klasson) dies.

He has had a successful career as a filmmaker, and now has a personal film venture in mind. He wants Nora -- an accomplished, and anxious actress -- to star in it. But she refuses.

He is forced to make other choices. It becomes an ordeal for every one. Who can survive? How?

What is the value of sentiment? One sister says to the other about their Mom's things -- they "are of sentimental value." But the mother's description of her torture in prison is "not sentimental."

It is difficult to rationalize Skarsgard's Oscar nomination as Supporting Actor. It's not because he doesn't deserve an acting award, but he's a lead, not supporting. He gives a performance equal to any of the nominees for Best Actor.

The screenplay by Eskil Vogt and director Joachim Trier has crucial levels. It is rich in dualities -- meaningful pairs. It has two sisters -- Nora and Agnes -- one who is an actress while the other was a child actress but stopped to become settled.

In a climactic scene, they sit across from each other in the same exact position with right hands against their cheeks. Agnes says, "I love you." Nora responds, "Me, too." She pauses, then says, "I mean, I love you, too."

They also later stand in a doorway holding coffee cups the same way.

In Sentimental Value, there are two children -- one under stress.

There are two actresses (one played effectively by Elle Fanning), who speak two different languages. One comes to realize she doesn't fit the role.

There are two suicides -- one phantom.

In Sentimental Value, there is the past, and the future.

Which will prevail?