Sentimental Value (2025)

I left the theater feeling emotionally wrung out, and I mean that as the highest compliment. Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value is a masterpiece of emotional archaeology, a film that digs into the fault lines of a family and refuses to let anyone off the hook. Renate Reinsve’s performance as Nora is raw and physically painful to watch, the kind of work where you forget you’re watching an actress. Stellan Skarsgard is a revelation as the self-absorbed director Gustav, and Elle Fanning’s role as an actress playing Nora within the film becomes a devastating meta-commentary on art feeding off private pain.

Kasper Tuxen’s cinematography turns the family house into a character of its own, a place where every room holds a memory that someone would rather forget. The film is interested in the human cost of turning life into art, and it navigates that territory without ever becoming self-indulgent or navel-gazing. What I admire most is that Trier offers no easy reconciliation, only a devastating emotional truth that lingers long after the credits.