In Sentimental Value, director Joachim Trier returns to the terrain in which he excels: families struggling with what they do and fail to do for each other, and the way in which art – theatre, film, performance – can be both comforting and confrontational. Nora (Renate Reinsve), a celebrated theatre actress in Oslo, loses her balance when her mother dies and her estranged father, a notorious director on the decline (Stellan Skarsgård), suddenly returns. His plan: to shoot one last film in the family home, with a leading role that bears a striking resemblance to the tragic history of his own mother. Nora refuses, but is nevertheless drawn into the project, which increasingly tears the family and the house apart…  

Sentimental Value was awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes 2025 and, in a festival year full of violence, resentment and the struggle for survival, is a rare story about making different choices. Trier interweaves family dynamics with questions about artistic responsibility: what does it mean to repeat personal traumas on stage, or worse, to exploit them?