For nearly twenty years, Joachim Trier has been the most universal filmmaker from Norway. Movies like Reprise, Oslo August 31st and Louder Than Bombs reached international success far beyond Scandinavia. In his latest, Sentimental Value, Trier touches upon themes of the great Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman. An elderly father, himself a filmmaker (Stellan Skarsgard), estranged from his two daughters (Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), reappears in their life. Subsequently, old wounds are reopened, and an unpleasant tension begins to hang in the air during their family gatherings.
In comparison to Trier's fantastic The Worst Person in the World (2021), Sentimental Value drags under its own slow, meticulous pacing, weighed down by children-vs-father bitterness that never quite reaches the dramatic arc it seeks. It ends with a muffled whimper, rather than any memorable bang.
At 130-something minutes, Value is much longer than it needs to be. It's also hampered by Trier's own previous success: when compared with his earlier fare, it's sometimes pretentious and often dull, when it should be emotional and engrossing.
☆☆1/2
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