Title – Sentimental Value (2025)

Director – Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World)

Cast – Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning, Anders Danielsen Lie

Plot – Close knit sisters Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Lilleaas) are drawn back into the world of their estranged filmmaker father Gustav (Skarsgård) in the aftermath of their mothers passing.

“Praying isn’t really talking to God. It’s acknowledging the despair”

Review by Eddie on 02/02/2026

Further establishing Norwegian writer/director Joachim Trier as one of the most interesting and well-rounded filmmakers working today, Sentimental Value is a powerful human-interest drama that features one of the most on-song ensembles of recent memory.

The recipient of multiple accolades from across the globe, including a significant 9 Academy Award nominations for the recently announced Oscars, Value sees Trier exploring the importance of family, personal trauma and the power of art/film in individuals lives as he and we are thrown into the world of the Borg family in the wake of their mother/ex-wife’s passing.

Built around Renate Reinsve’s conflicted actress Nora, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas’s family orientated Agnes, Stellan Skarsgård’s famed filmmaker and flawed father Gustav and Elle Fanning’s Hollywood actress Rachel Kemp, Value allows its four core cast members a chance to shine as they learn to live, love, forget and find solace within themselves as Gustav tries to get his new film project off the ground.

Featuring themes and story arcs that are familiar and far from groundbreaking but managing to explore and unravel them in fresh, exciting and considered ways, Value is on paper a relatively straight forward family orientated drama, but by continuing on with the directional and storytelling prowess he displayed with his breakout hit Oslo, August 31st and critical darling The Worst Person in the World, Trier with support from his writing partner Eskil Vogt, ensures that Value is a powerful, unpredictable and passionate affair that is deserving of its worldwide praise.

Front and centre to proceedings and the beating heart of this tale is the central cast, all of whom incredibly received first time Oscar nominations for their turns, with industry veteran Skarsgård and Fanning as good as they’ve ever been, even if the films quiet MVP is Ibsdotter Lilleaas, who’s kindly and considered Agnes is the rock on which this tale is founded upon, never more so evident than in a pivotal scene she plays out with Reinsve’s Nora, her on screen sister, a scene that speaks volumes of the power of Ibsdotter Lilleaas’s turn and the films very heart and soul.

After getting lost in Hollywood over a decade ago with the forgettable Louder than Bombs and not fully emerging again until 2021’s Worst Person in the World success, Trier seems perfectly at peace with where he’s at as a filmmaker right now and his collaborative partnership with Vogt is growing stronger with each effort, creating an exciting proposition for film fans from across the globe as we await their next move.

Final Say –

An awards worthy drama that’s full of surprises and a collection of noteworthy performances from both young and old, Sentimental Value is arguably Joachim Trier’s finest feat yet and one of 2025’s most assured and engaging dramas.

4 questionable gift choices out of 5