Sentimental Value: A Review

SENTIMENTAL VALUE

"And a house is not a home, when there's no one there to hold you tight, and no one there you can kiss goodnight". Thus sang the legendary Luther Vandross in a cover version of A House is Not a Home. I doubt that this ballad was on director/cowriter Joachim Trier's mind when he created Sentimental Value. In this Scandinavian exploration of parents and children, Sentimental Value may try some viewers' patience. In the end though, that patience will be rewarded. 

The Borg family is artistic royalty in Norway. Legendary film director Gustav Borg (Stellan Skarsgard) has crafted well-regarded films touching on interpersonal strife and the aftereffects of the Second World War. One of his daughters, Nora (Renate Reinsve) is a successful stage actress. The public, however, does not know that Nora suffers from intense, almost crippling stage fright. His other daughter Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) has not followed the Borg artistic tradition. She instead has become a historian with a husband and young son.

As a historian, Agnes might appreciate the Oslo family home which has been in the Borg family for generations. It is all sorts of things to both Agnes and Nora. It was the home where they lived with their mother Sissel, a psychiatrist, after their parents split up. Sissel worked from home. Gustav worked outside Norway. Now, he has returned after decades away for Sissel's funeral. The house, technically, still belongs to Gustav.

Gustav may have a legendary reputation among filmmakers. However, he also has struggled to get financing for his newest project. He has a script based on his mother, Karin. She was in the Norwegian resistance during the war. The effects of her physical and emotional tortures led to her suicide in the house when Gustav was seven. Now, he asks Nora to play the part. She angrily refuses, still haunted by their difficult relationship.

Into this comes American actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning). She, a longtime Gustav Borg admirer, meets him at a film festival. Gustav is there for a career retrospective where an earlier film featuring Agnes as a child is screened. Rachel has just screened her own film, which has flopped. Now, the two see in the other a chance for career revival. Gustav offers Rachel the lead role which she eagerly accepts. Her involvement now piques Netflix's interests, and they agree to finance the project.  

Shortly after production begins, everyone sees that this is not going well. Rachel, despite her best and sincerest efforts, struggles with the language. Gustav attempts to accommodate her by rewriting the dialogue in English. Nora thinks that Gustav is exploiting family tragedy by his insistence on filming at the family home. Agnes is not happy that Gustav has given her son a small part in the film, remembering how he did the same with her. Agnes, however, soon starts seeing in Gustav's script his own hidden trauma over Karin. Her research leads to a greater understanding of her family dynamic. Who will end up playing the Karin-like figure? Will the house release family trauma?

Sentimental Value keeps to at least one Scandinavian tradition. It delves into the quiet despair that so many of them seem to live through and live for. It does not have the depths of misery that an Ingmar Bergman film might have. While it is not anywhere near a comedy, Sentimental Value at least does not drown in the immense crisis of the soul like for example in Autumn Sonata. While the Borgs are damaged in some ways, they are also able to function. They can even smile and laugh, something that I've yet to see in an Ingmar Bergman film.

Four of Sentimental Value's cast received Oscar nominations for their performances. Each was well-earned. Renate Reinsve was nominated for Best Actress as Nora, the older and more wrecked daughter. We start Sentimental Value with her about to take the stage in some avant-garde production. Nora is clearly falling apart as she attempts to energize herself to take the stage. Her near-collapse and furious efforts by her and others to get her on showcase a brilliant performance. As the film continues, Reinsve has to play not just Nora but the character that she is supposed to be playing on stage/screen. Nora's pain, rage and regret are all so excellently captured in Reinsve's performance.

Stellan Skarsgard and both Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning were recognized in the Supporting categories. Skarsgard showed Gustav to be a flawed but not unkind man. Skarsgard gives a surprisingly quiet performance as Gustav. He does have a wonderful moment of anger when an interviewer asks what he considers idiotic and insulting questions to Rachel in a joint interview. He also shows Gustav's prickly side. However, Skarsgard shows Gustav to be sometimes blinded by art but not totally unaware. 

One might think that Elle Fanning had the easier role since she was playing an American actress. Unlike almost all of her other castmates, she did not have to speak in a foreign language. Well, yes, there are moments when Rachel attempts to speak in Norwegian. The rest of the cast does slip into English when needed. However, Fanning shows herself in a wonderful scene when rehearsing a scene in the abortive Karin film. As she continues to dig into the character under Gustav's directing, we see the strengthening emotion that both Rachel and the character are undergoing. She has a wonderful scene with Reinsve when Rachel insists that Nora is right for the part that she has withdrawn from. It shows Rachel to be wise both in terms of her career and in what both Nora and Gustav need.

There may be a temptation to think that Lilleaas has the softer role as the more understanding Agnes. I would argue that her role was harder. She has to be the softer core, the one who seeks rapprochement with Gustav and Nora. As she examines Karin's records or softly reproaches Gustav, we see Agnes as caring but firm. 

None of them would ultimately win Best Lead Actress, Supporting Actress or Supporting Actor Oscars. I think, though, that their performances will be more regarded in years to come than the actual winners. The same goes for Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt's screenplay, which was also nominated but lost. 

If I would find some issue with Sentimental Value, it might be with its length and pacing. I figure that some would find it long and slow. I did find it a bit long and slow at over two hours. However, I think Sentimental Value is worth the time. Here, we see that perhaps home is where the heart is. We also see that sometimes, even things of sentimental value need to be let go of to build something better.

DECISION: B+