Cliff Notes – Sentimental Value review: I think it was worthy of its 19-minute standing ovation
- Powerful Performances: Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve deliver compelling performances that elevate the film, showcasing a complex father-daughter relationship amidst family dysfunction.
- Unique Narrative Structure: The film intricately weaves the family’s home into its narrative, making it a character in its own right, which adds depth to the story of generational trauma.
- Dark Humour and Realism: Balancing emotional weight with dry humour, the film remains grounded and relatable, avoiding melodrama while exploring serious themes of loss and reconciliation.
Sentimental Value review: I think it was worthy of its 19-minute standing ovation
With Sentimental Value a favourite at Cannes in May, it’s now come to screen at London Film Festival.
After making waves at Cannes Film Festival in May with its 15-minute standing ovation (or 19-minute, depending on which clapometer you trust most), the longest for 2025, I knew I had to go out of my way to make sure I saw Sentimental Value.
That rapturous reception put its name on everybody’s lips at the festival – and at the top of the list to win its highest honour, the prestigious Palme D’Or.
And while ultimately that didn’t come to pass (It Was Just an Accident triumphed instead), it was still one of the most impressive and impactful films I saw at Cannes this year, ahead of its screening at the 2025 BFI London Film Festival.
Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi in its native Norway) provides a fascinating window into a dysfunctional family in Oslo and all the hurt they’ve witnessed and carried over the generations in their faded but quirky home.
It’s emotional and powerful without being overblown, managing to remain entirely realistic in its story and interpersonal relationships without ever slipping into the mundane – and it’s also peppered throughout with quite dark humour.
In hands less assured than that of director and co-writer Joachim Trier, we might be saying ‘so what?’ of a film about a washed-up filmmaker (Stellan Skarsgård) trying to reconnect with the daughters he walked out on after divorcing their mother as a child, wooing the one who has become a successful actress in her own right with a part written specially for her in his new movie.
The longest standing ovation at Cannes this year went to Sentimental Value, at 19 minutes according to some reports
But Sentimental Value not only handles these tensions expertly but makes the house of the Borg family – being packed up by sisters Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) after their mother’s death – a character in its own right.
Indeed, it’s introduced first of anyone in the film’s opening moments, and we learn more about its curious composition and its previous inhabitants in scenes interspersed throughout the film.
Skarsgård’s Gustav actually wants to make a film about his mother, who died by suicide in the house when he was a young boy after being tortured by Nazis during the war.
It stars award-winning actress winner Renate Reinsve, also as an actress, reluctant to build bridges with her filmmaker father (Stellan Skarsgård) who walked out on the family.
Elle Fanning plays the US star brought in to star in their dad’s new film
Trier previously delighted Cannes in 2021 with The Worst Person in the World, which won previous collaborator Reinsve the best actress prize and went on to nab two Oscar nominations.
And not that this should count for the quality of Sentimental Value, which speaks for itself, but – curiously – had it won at Cannes, it would have given co-distributor Neon the record-breaking honour of a sixth consecutive Palme, following previous victors Parasite, Titane, Triangle of Sadness, Anatomy of a Fall, and last year’s winner, Anora.
Perhaps Sentimental Value’s loudest argument for any kind of awards season attention though is its brilliant powerhouse performances: Skarsgård enjoys the best role he’s had in years as a charismatic but arrogant and slightly desperate 70-year-old, determined to evoke past glories.
Capturing all the shades required in a role this complex – and some – this could mark Skarsgård’s first Oscar nomination in an otherwise storied career.
Sentimental Value also makes a character of the family’s house and its previous inhabitants.
The film boasts powerhouse performances from Skarsgård and Reinsve
And as for his character’s comeback goal, that would also mean casting his grandson in his new film – despite the reluctance of the boy’s mother, younger sister Agnes (Lilleaas), who once starred in a film of her father’s 20 years ago, before leaving the profession after feeling abandoned by him post-production.
Lilleaas provides a perfect counter-balance to Reinsve’s anger and hostility towards her father as Nora, which manifests in a panic attack ahead of her new stage performance. When Nora turns down her father’s offer of a role, he instead recruits Hollywood starlet Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning, continuing a run of great performances in a notably wide variety of films), who is charmed by him at a film festival and eager to please.
Sentimental Value: Key details
Director
Joachim Trier
Writer
Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt
Cast
Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning, Anders Danielsen Lie, Cory Michael Smith, Lena Endre, Jesper Christensen
Age rating
15
Runtime
2hr 13m
Release date
In cinemas from December 26, 2025
But the film is, undeniably, Reinsve’s, who allows Trier to expose the full range of her talents like a raw nerve; I expect to see her name in contention too come awards season.
Lest this all sound overly angsty though, the family shares a propensity towards dry humour which flares up from time to time – like when Gustav tells Rachel she’s sitting on the stool his mother stepped off to end he life, only for Agnes to later reveal it’s from Ikea. Or when Gustav buys his grandson a bunch of arthouse DVDs for his ninth birthday, including cult erotic thriller The Piano Teacher, as you do.
There’s also an all-too-familiar junket scene in which Gustav and Rachel, pre-plugging the film after partnering with Netflix, end up partaking in an interview that becomes every journalist’s most embarrassing nightmare.
If it had won at Cannes, it would have been a sixth straight Palme D’Or for co-distributor Neon – and Oscars are still very possible (Picture: Mubi)
Director Joachim Trier demonstrates an extraordinary power via his collaboration with actress Reinsve (pictured far R with the rest of the main cast at London Film Festival) (Picture: Backgrid)
My only quibble with Sentimental Value is that it does start to tread water a little as it nears the end. As with many films nowadays, it could have lost 20 minutes from its 133-minute run-time.
But should it prove a strong contender in the 2026 awards season, where it’s already Norway’s official Academy Awards submission, I’d consider it a worthy candidate.
Verdict
Wonderful performances wring every drop of meaning and – well – sentiment from the movie and keep this impressively nuanced family drama engaging throughout.
Sentimental Value premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and screened at the BFI London Film Festival on October 12, 14 and 19. It will release in UK cinemas on December 26, 2025.
