Review by Eric Hillis
Directed by: Joachim Trier
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Stellan Skarsgard, Elle Fanning, Cory Michael Smith, Anders Danielsen Lie
"I turn sideways to the sun
Keep my thoughts from everyone
It's a jungle, I'm a freak
Hear me talk, but never speak"
Those lyrics are from New Order's 'World (Price of Love)', one of several great needle drops in Joachim Trier's latest Oslo-set drama Sentimental Value. The idea of keeping your thoughts from others and talking without speaking are inherent in Sentimental Value, and most of Trier's work, and indeed, much of Scandinavian cinema. Unlike our Latin neighbours down south, we Northern Europeans like to keep our troubles to ourselves. We avoid conflict, preferring passive aggression. We don't speak about our feelings. Mustn't grumble. That's why art is so important to us. In the work of those more talented and insightful than ourselves, we can find answers to the questions we dare not ask. And art allows our artists to speak their truths indirectly.
One artist who uses his work in such a way is Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgård), the aging filmmaker at the centre of Sentimental Value. When his ex-wife passes away, Gustav attends the funeral and reconnects with his estranged daughters, historian Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) and actress Nora (Renate Reinsve). A combination of his commitment to his career and his philandering ways kept Gustav out of his daughter's lives, and though Agnes is willing to give him a second chance, Nora wants little to do with her father.
When Gustav offers Nora the role in his latest film, partly inspired by his own mother, a resistance fighter who took her life when he was seven, she flat out refuses. Months later she is shocked to find Gustav is in pre-production on said film, and has landed a major Hollywood star in Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) to play the role originally intended for Nora.
What ensues is a study of the tolls of compromise and stubbornness. Despite Agnes telling Nora how surprisingly great their father's script is, Nora refuses to read it. But she is clearly hurt by Gustav going ahead and making it with another actress, and Reinsve communicates this with wordless brilliance in how she looks at both her father and his new leading lady. But despite Rachel's attachment allowing for a bigger budget than he would have had with Nora in his film's lead role, Gustav finds that her casting necessitates compromise. The film must now be in English rather than Norwegian, and Rachel struggles to nail the accent. The funding has come from Netflix, but this means it is unlikely to play in cinemas. Rachel asks questions about her character, but Gustav refuses to give answers. As we watch Gustav and Rachel awkwardly rehearse, it's all too clear that Gustav's motivation for making this film was to connect with Nora through their shared art.
Sentimental Value is a movie in love with cinema. There are references to everything from Woody Allen to Avatar, and a hilarious moment when Gustav gifts his seven-year-old grandson DVD copies of two highly inappropriate movies - Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher and Gaspar Noe's Irreversible. It's a film heavy on dialogue but its cast speak with their eyes rather than their mouths. There are no shouty confrontations, no climactic monologue in which a character lays the theme of the movie out neatly for us. Its characters feel so real that the experience of watching Sentimental Value is one of intrusion and eavesdropping.
Movies often show us either the best or worst day in their protagonist's lives; Trier is far too subtle for such a conceit. Everyone here has had better times and worse days. We're simply seeing one chapter of their lives. Some blanks are filled by flashbacks that go as far back as WWII, but some major events in these people's lives are merely hinted at. We don't know if they're going to be okay when the credits roll. It's uncertain if Gustav, Nora and Agnes' reunion will ultimately prove positive. But for the audience, watching these three people cautiously circle each other like a dog that's taken too many beatings is a gift from the movie gods. In Skarsgård we have a veteran of Scandinavia cinema putting in a late contender for the performance of his career, and in yet another magnetic turn from rising star Reinsve, we have further evidence to support claims that she might be the most exciting star of her generation.
Sentimental Value is in UK/ROI cinemas from December 26th.
