Dir: Joachim Trier, Norway/Germany/Denmark/France/Sweden/UK/Turkey, 2025, 133mins Norwegian/English/French with subtitles,

Cast: Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning

Review by Matthew Morlai Kamara

In the wake of their mother’s death, estranged sisters Nora Borg (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes Borg (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) find their lives upended by the return of their father, Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgard), a once-celebrated filmmaker.

Desperate to reclaim his fading career, Gustav resurfaces with a screenplay that strikes a painful nerve: a deeply personal project centred on his own mother’s suicide in the family’s Oslo home.

Nora, who’s a stage actress, flatly refuses to star in his movie comeback. Gustav then makes a provocative pivot, casting a bright-eyed Hollywood star Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) in the role intended for his daughter Nora. As the rising American actress is dropped into the middle of their fractured family dynamics, the sisters must navigate a minefield of ego, selfishly agonizing through the process of reclaiming a story that was never truly theirs to tell.

This is one of those movies which quietly slips deep under your skin and refuses to leave. It’s a film about family, memory and all the unspoken things buried so deep in their soul that they’re afraid to let resurface. It’s also a reminder of how occasionally in life we prefer avoidance, rather than being brave enough to communicate face-to-face when it comes to resolving family issues.

Stellan Skarsgard and Renate Reinsve are outstanding; their performances are beautifully restrained, carrying a world of history in every glance. Trier captures that fragile space between pain and forgiveness so delicately it hurts. He has an incredible gift for capturing the quiet moments from a hesitation, a sigh that speak louder than any words. Sentimental Value is not about tidy closure; it’s about learning to live with what’s left behind. Trier reminds us that family relationships can be messy, and forgiveness agonizingly slow. But it’s in that mess that truth and humanity live.

This film is deeply moving, telling a story of how families fall apart and rebuild. It is a haunting reminder that sometimes the hardest thing isn’t remembering, it’s letting go.