Sentimental Value Summary
In the movie Sentimental Value, when the mother of Nora and Agnes Borg dies, their father comes back. Gustav Borg – a once-celebrated Norwegian film director who chose his career over his family decades ago – returns to the Oslo villa where his daughters grew up, carrying a new screenplay and an old guilt he has never learned to express directly.
He wants Nora, now an accomplished stage actress, to play the lead in his comeback film — a role he has written specifically for her, based on his own mother’s life. She refuses. He casts Rachel Kemp, a famous American actress played by Elle Fanning, instead. And Sentimental Value becomes something far more interesting than a straightforward family drama: it becomes a film about whether art can do what language cannot, about what we owe our parents, and about the particular damage done by people who love deeply but show up rarely.
Directed by Joachim Trier, written with his longtime collaborator Eskil Vogt, and shot on 35mm film in Oslo, Deauville, and Strömstad, this is the Grand Prix winner at Cannes 2025, the first Norwegian film ever to win the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, and one of the most emotionally precise films made anywhere in the world this year. It is not a film that raises its voice. It doesn’t need to.
This is a must-watch. See it on MUBI with subtitles, in a single sitting, ideally after you’ve called your parents.
Trailer
CAST of Sentimental Value
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Renate Reinsve | Nora Borg |
| Stellan Skarsgård | Gustav Borg |
| Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas | Agnes Borg Pettersen |
| Elle Fanning | Rachel Kemp |
| Anders Danielsen Lie | Jakob |
| Jesper Christensen | Peter |
| Lena Endre | Supporting role |
| Cory Michael Smith | Sam |
| Catherine Cohen | Nicky |
| Bente Børsum | Narrator |
CREW of Sentimental Value
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Director | Joachim Trier |
| Writers | Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt |
| Producers | Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar |
| Cinematographer | Kasper Tuxen Andersen |
| Editor | Olivier Bugge Coutté |
| Original Score | Hania Rani |
| Production Designer | Jørgen Stangebye Larsen |
| Costume Designer | Ellen Dæhli Ystehede |
| Sound Designer | Gisle Tveito |
| Casting | Avy Kaufman, Yngvill Kolset Haga |
| Production Companies | Mer Film · Eye Eye Pictures · Lumen · Zentropa · Komplizen Film · BBC Film · Film i Väst |
| International Sales | MK2 (France) |
Sentimental Value Movie Review
Trier co-wrote the screenplay with his longtime collaborator Eskil Vogt, and their script is a masterclass in what is left unsaid. Strained relationships aren’t only defined by their strain, and it’s often when the characters stop talking that old bonds reform just a little bit. There’s a scene where Gustav, who has bought his grandson some wildly inappropriate DVDs, shares a cigarette with Nora while they laugh about it — and that single moment tells you more about what their relationship could have been than any confrontation scene could.
READ FULL REVIEW FOR SENTIMENTAL VALUE HERE
Themes and Context
Sentimental Value sits at the intersection of two of Trier’s abiding creative obsessions: the impossibility of fully knowing another person, and the way art both reveals and replaces genuine emotional connection.
Speaking at Cannes and in subsequent interviews, Trier was open about his influences. On Bergman: “When it comes to Bergman, I’m very happy you brought up Wild Strawberries,” he told RogerEbert.com. “That’s such a gentle yet deeply melancholic film about an old man asking questions of whether he lived the life he was supposed to. Did he connect, or why didn’t he connect? I think that’s very relevant to Gustav’s story.” (Source: RogerEbert.com, November 2025)
But Trier pushes back on easy Bergman comparisons in the same breath. As he told The Hollywood Reporter: “American cinema was a big influence. Completely. Woody Allen films of the ’70s. Paul Mazursky — that humanism. Peter Bogdanovich.” And on the literary lineage: “Stellan and I talked a lot about Chekhov. Ibsen is someone you have to deal with as a Norwegian, but also I had to look towards American playwrights.” (Source: The Hollywood Reporter, September 2025)
The title in Norwegian — Affeksjonsverdi — is a legal and estate term referring to the emotional value of an object: what something is worth to you personally rather than financially. In inheritance law, it describes value that cannot be quantified. Trier told Euronews: “It reminds me of an old jazz song — backward-looking, emotional, but also with an ironic tone.” (Source: Euronews, December 2025) The film asks whether people can be reduced to the same category as objects — measured not by what they give but by what they mean to us.
There is also a deeply personal dimension. Trier comes from a filmmaking family — his grandfather Erik Løchen was a pioneering Norwegian director whose 1960 film The Hunt was selected for Cannes. The film’s narrator, 93-year-old Bente Børsum, starred in that film. Trier connecting those generational threads through her presence in Sentimental Value is one of the film’s most quietly moving biographical layers.
As Trier told Euronews: “My grandfather was a director, my parents worked in cinema. In families many things are passed on without being said. The beauty of cinema is its ability to make those silent spaces visible.”
PRODUCTION
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Production Companies | Mer Film, Eye Eye Pictures, Lumen, Zentropa, Komplizen Film, BBC Film, Film i Väst |
| Co-producing Countries | Norway, France, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, UK |
| Norwegian Film Institute Support | NOK 32.9 million |
| Camera | 35mm Kodak film (primary); 16mm for 1920s–1930s flashback sequences |
| Cinematographer Prep Time | 8 months |
| Primary Filming Format | 35mm — Tuxen’s second consecutive Trier collaboration on film |
| Languages Spoken | Norwegian, English, Swedish, Danish |
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
(Sources: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, Golden Globes official records, Wikipedia accolades page. Last updated: March 2026)
KEY WINS
| Ceremony | Category | Winner | Historic Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cannes Film Festival 2025 | Grand Prix | Joachim Trier | First Norwegian Grand Prix |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Film | Sentimental Value | Record nominations for a Norwegian film |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Director | Joachim Trier | |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Actress | Renate Reinsve | |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Actor | Stellan Skarsgård | |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Screenplay | Trier, Vogt | |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Composer | Hania Rani | |
| Golden Globes 2026 (83rd) | Best Supporting Actor | Stellan Skarsgård | |
| BAFTA 2026 (79th) | Best Film Not in English Language | Sentimental Value | |
| Academy Awards 2026 (98th) | Best International Feature Film | Sentimental Value | First Norwegian film ever to win an Oscar |
| EnergaCAMERAIMAGE Festival | Audience Award | Sentimental Value |
FULL NOMINATIONS LIST
| Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards 2026 | Best Picture | Sentimental Value | Nominated |
| Academy Awards 2026 | Best Director | Joachim Trier | Nominated |
| Academy Awards 2026 | Best Actress | Renate Reinsve | Nominated |
| Academy Awards 2026 | Best Supporting Actor | Stellan Skarsgård | Nominated |
| Academy Awards 2026 | Best Supporting Actress | Elle Fanning | Nominated |
| Academy Awards 2026 | Best Supporting Actress | Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas | Nominated |
| Academy Awards 2026 | Best Original Screenplay | Trier, Vogt | Nominated |
| Academy Awards 2026 | Best Film Editing | Olivier Bugge Coutté | Nominated |
| Academy Awards 2026 | Best International Feature Film | Norway | WON |
| BAFTA 2026 | Best Film | Sentimental Value | Nominated |
| BAFTA 2026 | Best Director | Joachim Trier | Nominated |
| BAFTA 2026 | Best Leading Actress | Renate Reinsve | Nominated |
| BAFTA 2026 | Best Supporting Actor | Stellan Skarsgård | Nominated |
| BAFTA 2026 | Best Supporting Actress | Elle Fanning | Nominated |
| BAFTA 2026 | Best Supporting Actress | Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas | Nominated |
| BAFTA 2026 | Best Original Screenplay | Trier, Vogt | Nominated |
| BAFTA 2026 | Best Film Editing | Olivier Bugge Coutté | Nominated |
| BAFTA 2026 | Best Film Not in English Language | Sentimental Value | WON |
| Golden Globes 2026 | Best Motion Picture — Drama | Sentimental Value | Nominated |
| Golden Globes 2026 | Best Motion Picture — Non-English Language | Sentimental Value | Nominated |
| Golden Globes 2026 | Best Director | Joachim Trier | Nominated |
| Golden Globes 2026 | Best Actress — Drama | Renate Reinsve | Nominated |
| Golden Globes 2026 | Best Screenplay | Trier, Vogt | Nominated |
| Golden Globes 2026 | Best Supporting Actress | Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas | Nominated |
| Golden Globes 2026 | Best Supporting Actress | Elle Fanning | Nominated |
| Golden Globes 2026 | Best Supporting Actor | Stellan Skarsgård | WON |
| Critics Choice 2026 | Best Picture | Sentimental Value | Nominated |
| Critics Choice 2026 | Best Director | Joachim Trier | Nominated |
| Critics Choice 2026 | Best Actress | Renate Reinsve | Nominated |
| Critics Choice 2026 | Best Supporting Actor | Stellan Skarsgård | Nominated |
| Critics Choice 2026 | Best Supporting Actress | Elle Fanning | Nominated |
| Critics Choice 2026 | Best Supporting Actress | Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas | Nominated |
| Critics Choice 2026 | Best Original Screenplay | Trier, Vogt | Nominated |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Film | Sentimental Value | WON |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Director | Joachim Trier | WON |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Actress | Renate Reinsve | WON |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Actor | Stellan Skarsgård | WON |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Screenplay | Trier, Vogt | WON |
| European Film Awards 2025 | Best Composer | Hania Rani | WON |
| National Board of Review | Best Supporting Actress | Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas | Won |
| Cannes Film Festival 2025 | Grand Prix | Joachim Trier | WON |
Historic summary: Sentimental Value is the most internationally awarded Norwegian film in history. It became the first Norwegian film to win the Academy Award, the first to win the Cannes Grand Prix, and set the record for the most Golden Globe nominations ever received by a Norwegian production (8). Joachim Trier became the first Norwegian director nominated twice in the Academy’s International Feature Film category.
DID YOU KNOW THIS ABOUT SENTIMENTAL VALUE?
The film spans over a century — in a single house. The Oslo villa on Thomas Heftyes gate in Oslo’s Frogner district carries the story from 1918 to 2023. Production Designer Jørgen Stangebye Larsen and his team dressed the same physical spaces across multiple eras, requiring period-accurate set decoration for each decade while maintaining spatial continuity. The house is a striking example of Norway’s Dragon Style architecture, with steep gables, carved ornamentation, and rich timber detailing evoking the Viking era and stave church tradition. Norwegianfilm
The narrator starred in Trier’s grandfather’s first film — 65 years ago. The film’s narrator, 93-year-old Norwegian actress Bente Børsum, played the lead in Erik Løchen’s experimental 1960 film The Hunt — which was selected for Cannes that same year. Trier casting her here completes a multi-generational cinematic circle. Speaking at Cannes, Trier described meeting her at his local physiotherapy gym, which he visits because the rates are cheap. This is a very Joachim Trier story.
Trier listened to John Lennon while writing. In an interview with Euronews, Trier revealed his writing playlist included Lennon’s Imagine on repeat: “I used to find that song overly sentimental. I don’t think that anymore. In such a dark period, hope is, I believe, one of the most honest feelings.” (Source: Euronews, December 2025)
The closing needle drop was an accident. In his interview with Letterboxd’s journal, Trier explained that the closing song — Labi Siffre’s ‘Cannock Chase’ — was discovered by his editor, not chosen by him: “It was on a playlist of songs we’d cleared and my editor said, ‘This fits well here.’ The moment he did, I started laughing. I thought, wow.” Trier describes it as feeling “retrospective” — in the film’s final intimate present-tense moment, the song throws the audience into a sudden sense of looking backward. (Source: Letterboxd Journal, December 2025)
Stellan Skarsgård actually worked with Bergman. Trier chose Skarsgård partly because the Swedish actor had a real biographical connection to the Scandinavian cinematic tradition being invoked: Skarsgård worked with Ingmar Bergman in his youth and played August Strindberg on stage. The casting adds a layer of lived history to the role’s fictional filmmaker. (Source: Cineuropa, May 2025)
The flashbacks use a different film format. The film’s main body was shot on 35mm Kodak film, but the flashback sequences set in the 1920s and 1930s were shot in 16mm — giving them a visibly different texture and grain. The format shift is a visual cue as well as a period marker.
The final shot took days of rehearsal. The closing camera movement through the house required key grip Christian Scheibe to coordinate complex choreography of doors opening and closing in precise synchronisation with Renate Reinsve’s path through the space. Tuxen has described it as the most technically demanding shot of his career with Trier.
Trier calls this his most personal film. In an interview with Cineuropa at Cannes, he confirmed: “Eskil Vogt and I always write out of ourselves, and these complex matters around families are things that most of us can relate to.” He comes from a filmmaking family and has spoken extensively about the autobiographical layer beneath Gustav Borg’s fictional biography. (Source: Cineuropa, May 2025)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT SENTIMENTAL VALUE
Is Sentimental Value based on a true story? No. The screenplay is entirely original, written by Joachim Trier and his longtime collaborator Eskil Vogt. However, Trier has openly acknowledged drawing from his own family’s relationship with cinema — his grandfather was a pioneering Norwegian director, and his parents worked in film. The film has autobiographical emotional texture without being a biography.
What language is Sentimental Value in? Primarily Norwegian, with significant sequences in English (Elle Fanning’s character speaks only English, which is addressed within the story), and smaller portions in Swedish and Danish. All streaming versions include subtitles. The language mix is not incidental — it is one of the film’s central dramatic tensions.
Where can I watch Sentimental Value in India? Sentimental Value is available on MUBI India. (affiliate link — we may earn a commission if you subscribe through this link). MUBI acquired rights for India, the UK, Ireland, Latin America, and Turkey. A Criterion Collection Blu-ray is available from May 26, 2026 for those who want the definitive home viewing edition.
Is it worth watching if I haven’t seen The Worst Person in the World? Yes, completely. Sentimental Value is not a sequel and has different characters. The two films share a director, cinematographer, lead actress (Renate Reinsve), and thematic preoccupations — but you will not be lost without the earlier film. That said, watching The Worst Person in the World first will deepen your appreciation of Reinsve’s range and Trier’s consistency of vision. Both are on MUBI India.
How long is Sentimental Value? 135 minutes — 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Did Sentimental Value win the Oscar? Yes. At the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, 2026, Sentimental Value won Best International Feature Film — making it the first Norwegian film in history to win an Academy Award. It received nine nominations in total, including Best Picture and Best Director, but did not win in those categories.
Why did the film receive a 19-minute standing ovation at Cannes? The standing ovation at the Cannes world premiere on May 21, 2025, reflected the emotional impact of the film on critics and industry audience members who saw it first. Standing ovations at Cannes are common; 19-minute ovations are rare and generally indicate a film that has genuinely moved its audience in a way that is difficult to immediately articulate. Sentimental Value earns that response.
What does the title mean in Norwegian? Affeksjonsverdi is a legal and estate-planning term in Norwegian referring to the sentimental or emotional value of an object — what something is worth to its owner emotionally rather than financially. In inheritance law, it distinguishes objects with personal meaning from those with only market value. Trier uses this concept to ask the film’s central question: can people be measured the same way? Can a father’s love — genuine but consistently absent — be weighed in affective terms alone?
Is Sentimental Value appropriate for children? No. The film is rated R in the United States and deals with grief, family estrangement, romantic infidelity, and complex generational trauma. It moves slowly and requires patience and attention from its audience. It is ideal for adult viewers comfortable with subtitled cinema. Not recommended for anyone under approximately 16, and even then only with parental guidance.