Audiences connected with the last outing by Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt as writers and Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) in a lead role in a meaningful way. Back again in the same roles, the trio brings an emotional powerhouse of a movie in Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi) which will surely leave audiences moved, devastated, and maybe slightly frustrated with the final moments. The overall movie itself outweighs any negative association with how it ends, and the performances from the leading and supporting casts are phenomenal. Everything about the film is excellent as it wears its heart-on-its-sleeve attitude throughout the performances and carries it through the general story. Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi) is a tour de force that is near perfect in every sense of the word.
L-R: Stellan Skarsgard as Gustav and Elle Fanning as Rachel in SENTIMENTAL VALUE. Photo courtesy of TIFF/NEON.
The movie focuses on Agnes and Nora Borg (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Renate Reinsve, respectively) as they’re trying to cope with the loss of their mother and their father’s reappearance in their lives. While it wasn’t explicitly clear early on, the reason why Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), a relatively famous filmmaker, left his wife and daughters is eventually revealed as is, moreover, the reason for his sudden reappearance into his daughters’ lives at this turbulent time. Through turns, tribulation, and wanting some resemblance of a relationship, but also not wanting one, Nora agrees to meet her father for coffee — against her better judgement. It is revealed here that Gustav wants Nora to be in his newest feature, which he views as his comeback, because he believes she is wasting her career playing characters that were written decades, if not centuries, ago.
L-R: Stellan Skarsgard as Gustav and Renate Reinsve as Nora in SENTIMENTAL VALUE. Photo courtesy of TIFF/NEON.
Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi) consistently pits Nora and Agnes against each other as Agnes wants to welcome Gustav back into her life but is certainly cautious while Nora has literally next to no interest in welcoming him back into her life, despite him being her father. This all comes to a head, and sort of fizzles out, when Gustav brings an American actress who he asked to be in his new feature after Nora’s refusals, Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), to the women’s childhood home, which he still owned despite walking out all those years ago, and the tension continuously boils about Gustav’s reappearance in their lives, Nora being offered and she declining the role, and Rachel taking the role on and involving herself in their lives despite the role appearing to be something deeply personal — more so than Gustav wants to even admit it seems. Sentimental Value touches upon a lot of unaddressed family trauma that is excellent performed by its four co-leads.
It is hard to describe how transcendent Reinsve is in Sentimental Value simply because she’s consistently been the high point of nearly everything she is in. She never delivers anything shy of exceptional and her performance here is another prime example of this. Everything is so meticulously crafted and performed that the audience feels the myriad of emotions Nora is going through — losing her mother, having her father reinsert himself in her life, being recast despite being uninterested, and so forth. In a great juxtaposition to Nora, Lilleaas (A Beautiful Life) shines bright as Agnes, more willing to forgive her father and wants to amend the bridge. While the final piece in this family drama is Skarsgård (Dune: Part One) as Gustav delivers a complex and beautifully haunting performance as someone so self-involved, removed, and focused on his career but who has a wanting deep down to repair the damage he has caused. He plays Gustav as someone who is never truly redeemable despite everything but admirable in his attempt, even with the mountain of selfishness that it is proceeded by. Fanning (Galveston), who plays the outsider, is electric in one of the best performances of her career. Her performance is simply divine, putting Rachel’s admiration for Gustav and willingness to make the role he wrote work, wanting to change it, trying to understand the relationship Nora and Agnes have, out for all to experience.
L-R: Renate Reinsve as Nora and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas as Agnes in SENTIMENTAL VALUE. Photo courtesy of TIFF/NEON.
Overall, Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi) has one minor issue that may or not bother all audience members, and the issue comes to the forefront in the final minutes of the film. Regardless of this nitpick, it does not take away from the brilliance of the script Trier and Vogt brought, the masterful direction from Trier, and the sublime performances from Reinsve, Skarsgard, Lilleaas, and Fanning, making Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi) easily one of the best features of the year.
Screening during Toronto International Film Festival 2025.
In theaters November 7th, 2025.
For more information, head either to the official Sentimental Value Toronto International Film Festival or NEON webpage.
Final Score: 4.5 out of 5.
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Categories: In Theaters, Reviews
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