.

What is remarkable, given both the name of the film and its content, is how it isn’t at all sentimental. The plot centres around a daughter who, following the death of her mother, has to navigate a strained relationship with her estranged father. There is no doubt that in the hands of lots of other filmmakers this would be highly emotional and even a little manipulative but Joachim Trier directs it with a great amount of measured restraint, and the movie is all the more powerful for it. As an audience you are prompted how to feel rather than being told and it’s all quietly beautiful.

This is Trier’s follow up to 2021’s The Worst Person in the World and at a glance it feels less ambitious, with none of that film’s fantasy elements or social commentary, but I’m not sure it isn’t more skilled. He has made it look easy but Trier’s control and mastery of the material here should not be underestimated.

Part of this might be a certain European sensibility. Trier is Norwegian and the movie is largely in his language and French. Deliberately or otherwise this contrast between the style of English and international films is highlighted in the narrative and casting. The father in the story, played by Stellan Skarsgård, is a renowned director and having failed to get his own adult child to agree to act in his new masterwork he casts an American star, a part which is taken by Elle Fanning. Fanning is by my mind one of the best young actors in Hollywood and indeed she gets to show her skills here but she is simply blown off the screen by lead Renate Reinsve. This I am sure is largely because Reinsve’s performance better suits the movie but she is outstanding essaying the daughter who has to manage her own wellbeing and self esteem in light of her father’s return to her life, and her and Trier work brilliantly together. 

It is the time of the year for big serious dramas with awards season in full swing, and Sentimental Value is in cinemas alongside Hamnet, Marty Supreme and H for Hawk. However the accolades eventually fall I am sure this will outshine the competition though. Even with the focus on acting and filmmaking that is part of the plot, and devices that by their nature make you aware of cinematic conceits, this is somehow less like a movie and more like life,

but we won’t get mawkish about it.