Sentimental Value (2025) Review

A very intimate look into family memories and the lasting impact that can have on a person and truly shape the life they end up leading.

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*Original Title: Affeksjonsverdi*

Sentimental Value explores the relationships that make a person from a very early age, and how that can influence everything that then happens within your life. Without realising the true impact what may only seem like a very minor moment to one person, can be deadly to another. Even when that comes from a close family member, but does the pain they have been through also impact the way they treat others?

Those are certainly aspects of family life that are explored deeply within this film, the impact that Nora and Agnes Borg have had from the split of their parents, then the attempts to reconcile by Gustav with his daughters after the death of their mother is interesting to witness. Can the wounds of abandonment as a child really be repaired later in life?

Gustav had been a filmmaker but his last film was fifteen years ago, and he had a new idea. Approaching his eldest daughter Nora to star in it, as he had written it for her. She would not even read the script though, and we see her struggles with her theatre acting and being able to get on the stage. Then when his most famous film is being screened it draws the attention of Hollywood actress Rachel Kemp who then agrees to be in it, wondering if the role is right for her when she struggles to embrace the character in the way she knows it should be.

We then have Agnes who has her own family and young son Erik, she feels slightly differently towards Gustav and certainly gives him more time than Nora. We are taken on this emotional journey with them all and see how the film really wraps it altogether. Gustav drawing on his own childhood trauma over the suicide of his mother which was written within the film, but morphed with the struggles Nora had been going through.

The film moves back and forth between the present and linking in with events of the past in such a sleek manner, making the film really watchable and interesting from start to finish. Every now and then you watch a film at the perfect time, and I feel as though this was that film for me and quite an amazing one to finish off the cinema viewing for 2025 (watched on 30th December).

Performances are brilliant, with Renate Reinsve leading it all in spectacular fashion she really is fantastic to watch. Stellan Skarsgard never disappoints and it’s just great to see him in this type of role. Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas worked so well with Reinsve and made for truly believable sisters. Elle Fanning rounding off the more leading roles and is pushed to different boundaries within this film.