TIFF 2025 Review: Sentimental Value – “Feels acutely authentic.”

Courtesy of TIFF

At the centre of director Joachim Trier’s latest feature is a house.  It features red gingerbread trim and a unique outline, having hosted generations of footsteps and traumas, as well as happiness and sorrow.  Nora (Renate Reinsve) imagined being in that house as a young girl, wondering if it was happier being full or being empty.  She notes all the cracks and flaws of the house as part of its history, just as there are cracks and flaws in her own.

Nora is an actor, even as she grapples with paralyzing stage fright.  On opening night, she flails in her corseted costume, unable to breathe.  She tries to leave, she even gets her co-star to try to slap her out of it.  But she’s a ball of anxiety, a woman whose personal trauma runs deep.  That pain mostly revolves around the volatile relationship her parents had when she was little, loud arguments permeating her childhood.  That is, until her father left, seemingly abandoning her and her younger sister, Agnes (the film’s absolute superpower, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas).

Yet, Gustov (Stellan Skarsgård) walks right back into that house like he owns the place while they are holding a wake for their recently deceased mother.  Turns out, he does so with good reason.  While the girls and their mother continued to live in that home, he still has legal possession.  And he has an idea to film a movie there, his first in 15 years, that tells the story of his own mother’s passing.  While Nora wants nothing to do with the project, Gustov wants her to star.  He wrote the part for her.  When she declines, he hires a famous actress (Elle Fanning) to play the role. And as the film starts production, Gustov’s sudden reappearance in Nora’s life makes her re-evaluate the resentment she harbours while he tries to make a film that might just lead to reconciliation.

For a number of years, the first film that I saw at the Toronto International Film Festival turned out to be my favourite.  Call Me By Your Name and Anatomy of a Fall were on that list. Last year most definitely broke that trend (you can ask me what film that was), but Sentimental Value may just have brought me back to a point of wondering if anything else I see in the next nine days will top it.  This film, which premiered at Cannes this year, earning itself the Grand Prix award, is worthy of all the buzz and acclaim it has garnered.

Part of that is certainly the re-teaming of Trier with Renate Reinsve, who is just absolutely luminous in this film.  The director and actor’s last pairing in 2021’s The Worst Person in the World was a breakout for Reinsve and earned Oscar nominations for Best International Film and Best Original Screenplay.  This movie should just solidify them as a powerhouse filmmaking duo.  They just seem to bring out the best in one another, and I’d be happy for them to continue creating amazing films moving forward.

Joachim Trier also reunites with his writing partner from The Worst Person in the World, Eskil Vogt.  Together, they flesh out characters that are messy but realistic, complicated yet charming, and a narrative that fits that bill.  Because that’s what life is – complex, emotional, full of ups and downs and unexpected events.  The film also comes with a few laughs and commentary about the state of cinema and creativity, through a few pokes at Netflix and a birthday present to a young child that will delight most cinephiles.

Even though the story does largely concentrate on Nora and Gustov, and Skarsgård is exemplary in his best role in years, Sentimental Value is just as much about the two sisters.  Agnes has gone on to have a family and seems to have worked through her feelings about their father leaving.  While Nora largely took care of Agnes when they were young, the roles seem to reverse in adulthood and their relationship is truly something special in this film.

Sentimental Value is the type of movie we don’t really seem to see a lot of anymore.  It’s an entertaining and intelligent family drama that never becomes saccharine, and feels acutely authentic.  As Trier expertly weaves his story around the history of the house at its centre, we witness how art can mirror life, how therapeutic it can be.  I could have spent even longer with this family, watching their delicate relationships evolve.  This story feels intimate and personal yet totally accessible.  I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more Academy Awards nods on the way.

Sentimental Value had its Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival September 4, 2025.  For more information head to tiff.net