Directed By Joachim Trier

Starring – Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgard, Inga lbsdotter Lilleaas

The Plot – Sisters Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Lilleaas) reunite with their estranged father (Skarsgard), the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star (Elle Fanning). Suddenly, the two sisters must navigate their complicated relationship with their father and deal with an American star dropped right into the middle of their complex family dynamics.

Rated R for some adult language including a sexual reference, and brief nudity

SENTIMENTAL VALUE – Official Trailer – In Theaters 11.7

POSITIVES

At their very best, movies have the ability to tap into the kinds of inherited traumas that bare more than a striking connection to those in their audience, and through the depths of an unresolved relationship between Father and Daughter, Joachim Trier has not only submitted his most vulnerably complex portrayal of emotional weight, but also articulated the unbearable weight of the memories that casually persist in a centralized location like ghosts in the atmosphere, making “Sentimental Value” one of the most thoughtfully profound and beautifully poetic films that I have experienced this year. Most defining is the great restrain that Trier conjures to a story that could easily become overwhelmed by the theatrics of meddling melodrama, but instead appraises great control of a scene’s integrity to the exceptionally gifted ensemble, who do such a spectacular job of clueing audiences into their internalized feelings that are clearly coherent, without the need for smothering exposition dumps to wipe away the naturality of these candid interactions. While the film initially feels intimately condensed by the framing device of an overhanging mystery pertaining to what ultimately drove these sisters to distance themselves from their father, it’s really quite expansively sprawling with its abundance of inter-connecting dynamics continuously fleshing out a bigger and deeper picture that all centralize Skarsgard’s character to being the engine that drives so much of their conflicted chaos, with the uniquely vital element of Trier’s direction appraising surprising empathy to each of them, without a single ostracized villain between them. This is especially the case for Skarsgard’s Gustav, as his character’s actions are quite unintentionally condemning to those around him, with his commitment to cinematic craft feeling like it surmises more irresponsibility than his fleeting time as a caring provider, and while this would undeniably make him the determined villain in a lesser quality kind of movie, Trier actually appraises a meaningful kind of empathy and unknowing ignorance to the design of the character that fleshes out the vulnerability of his evidential humanity, with his predetermined frailty within the character’s distinguished age and isolated loneliness ultimately serving as a cautionary tale to a man perceived to have everything, yet in reality with nobody to share it with. The inter-dynamic conflicts themselves aren’t resolved with any semblance of convenience or ease, as evidenced by a brilliant final sequence packing so much metaphorical and significant meaning to those involved, even at the risk of sacrificing some of that inevitability of confrontation, and while this won’t be an ending that sends everyone home happy, for someone with his own unresolved conflict with a parent, it feels as close to authentic as a movie can capably conjure, appraising optimism for the future, one scene at a time. Aside from the meaningful characters, what’s also fascinating about the film is how it utilizes the central location of this family home as a character of its own within the movie, not only with the fascinating overhead narration provided from the perspective of the house, that sifts through so many of the highs and lows of its assorted family memories, but also in the powerfully evocative emotional atmosphere persisting within that location that directly affects the characters and the story’s events. While this certainly isn’t a ghost movie in the most directly derivative sense, there does feel like a greater power that ultimately and unfortunately predetermines this family’s outlook, in ways that speaks volumes to the idea that home truly is where you make it, and though that can occasionally feel like a burden on those forced to confront the values in objects that are left behind, there’s an optimistic outlook attained in the film’s exploration that feels like it cements legacy in the face of eventual oblivion, a feat that Gustav himself looks to attack while facing his own mortality in and out of the industry. Speaking of industry, Trier is also a director who doesn’t let an opportunity to imbed some stirring social commentary go to waste in the depths of his films, this time with the film within the film, which unloads some daring observations about the state of the industry, courtesy of his own unabashed honesty in its many condemning decisions. One such example pertains to the straight-to-streaming model of Netflix, in all of its theatrical obscuring, and while it’s typically utilized as nothing more than ironically comedic punchlines, there’s a permanency to Trier’s observations that stick long after the gag is effectively executed, hopefully prescribing a cautionary urgency to studios everywhere, who in recent years have made the cinematic experience obsolete from its dedicated patrons. On top of this, the film’s technical components also add to the integrity of the engagement, with everything from the color grading, to the intimate shot compositions and framing, to especially Hania Rani’s score and soundtrack incorporation garnering so much emotional elasticity to scenes that could easily be deduced one-dimensionally in a weaker production. Especially is the case with the latter, Trier has always been a director who values so much personality with the consistency of his song choices, with those here lyrically materializing double meanings when held against the backdrop of what’s transpiring, and while the mixing also elicits the same kind of restrain that Trier ushers in, that leaves it in the hands of his performers, there’s just enough underlining presence to make it a palpable influence to the integrity of the interpretation, without anything that even comes close to unearned meandering melodrama. Last but not least, there are plenty of finest hour performances from the efforts of this mesmerizing ensemble, particularly Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgard, and Inga lbsdotter Lilleaas, who take this film to another level with the kind of nuance they appraise to such complexly layered characters. While Trier isn’t driven by the need to make these intimate interactions artificial by exaggerated emotionality, Reinsve’s turn is nothing short of breathtaking, especially during a tensely riveting opening sequence featuring the most honest example of a panic attack ever put to cinema, or conveying resentment through the piercing permanence of her eyes, while utilizing so much unresolved remorse, and Skarsgard, while giving his best turn in decades, approaches being the proverbial elephant in the room with the kind of open-armed vulnerability and unapologetic earnestness that makes Gustav such a disarmingly charming threat to those he comes into contact with. However, for my money, it was definitely Lilleaas who steals this show as the movie’s emotional center, particularly during one unloading scene alongside Reinsve, in which the two cathartically open their hearts towards one another, with Inga’s motherly tendencies instinctively enacting candid concern of fear and ferocity for the child that she’s sworn to protect. While any one of these performances certainly deserve an Academy Award nomination, it’s Lilleaas who feels most inclined to receive one, during an especially weak year for the Best Supporting Actress category, cementing her name as a force to be reckoned with, despite receiving such a minimized screen time in contrast to her other co-stars.

NEGATIVES

There’s very little to openly critique about such an openly honest and candid engagement, however if I had one complaint with Trier’s execution, it would register with the conflicting essence of the movie’s editing practices, particularly these abrupt cuts to black, which stunted the growth of the scenes that they would accompany, for the sake of punctuating an image for maximizing impact. While the intention is noble to maintain urgency to the consistency of the pacing within the movie’s 128-minute runtime, it doesn’t come without the consequence of some vital scenes being abruptly abridged or halted during moments when the conversation was finally opening up between two characters, isolating tacked-on additions to scenes to feel disconnected, and therefore irrelevant to even keep in. One such example pertains to two characters talking heavily towards one another in one scene, only to cut, and then show the same two characters in the next scene eliciting nothing more than a punchline to an unremarkable gag. This happens a couple of times in the movie, and while I understand that the production’s intention was to visually depict the fragmentation of family life and the overall passage of time, it appraises more difficulty in coherently assembling the pieces of information and exposition than I would’ve preferred, making an already meticulous brand of storytelling convoluted by visual storytelling that distracted and detracted during what felt like some of the movie’s most dynamic scenes or sequences.

OVERALL
“Sentimental Value” is an emotionally raw and thoughtfully elegant masterpiece of a film from Joachim Trier, about the weight of home, the price of legacy, and the healing power of art, as explored through a fractured father and daughter dynamic suppressed under the crushing weight of their pasts. Featuring some of the most humanly grounded portrayals of the year, as well as an affectionately intimate dissection on depression, grief, and time, the film pertains to the unresolved traumas that surmise from so many unspoken thoughts, appraising an urgency for upfront honesty that dares us to learn from the mistakes of our pasts, even when the hardest part of forgiveness is paving the road to communication.

My Grade: 9.7 or A+