Sentimental Value

Nora and Agnes, two sisters with a strained past, return home when their father Gustav, a once-famous director, reaches out. Gustav wants Nora, who works on stage, to headline his supposed comeback film. She says no, believing his motives are tangled with old family wounds. Shortly after, Nora realizes Gustav has handed her role to a rising Hollywood actor, setting off a clash of loyalties and ambitions. The film watches how professional choices reopen private hurts, and how charisma and charm can mask deeper reckoning. It keeps the focus tight on family dynamics and the cost of artistic reputation, without revealing where those conflicts finally land.

Created by Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt, Sentimental Value arrived in 2025, featuring Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Andreas Stoltenberg Granerud. The pedigree will catch attention for fans of contemporary Scandinavian cinema.

Box office figures are not widely reported, the film seeming to favor targeted theatrical runs and festival play over blockbuster scale. It has circulated among critics and specialty cinemas rather than chasing mainstream multiplex totals.

The story has sparked conversations about privilege, mentorship, and casting in modern film culture. Critics and viewers have debated how a celebrated figure uses influence, and the film's quiet scenes of power and resentment have made it a reference point in discussions about art world ethics.

Critical response highlights the strength of the performances, especially the fraught chemistry between Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård, and the film's measured handling of familial tension. On user-driven platforms it holds a solid average score, and commentators often note its focus on reputation, regret, and the uneven ways creativity and family history intersect.