Sentimental Value is a film that begins with a very deep emotional break, but takes a turn toward the grandiloquent, building its greatness from that very wound. From there, the work reveals its seams by introducing us to a family drama that revolves around a house. However, far from being a mere object of conflict, this home functions as the family's sentimental safeguard. The fracture of this household is reflected in each of the characters, and the way they assume it contributes in turn to the breakdown of both their internal relations and the family on a symbolic level.
The story follows Nora, an actress trying to overcome the loss of her mother while facing the return of a father who was absent for a large part of her life, yet left a major mark on her childhood. Amidst this grief and the return of an authority figure, her only solace is her sister. Despite having lived a parallel childhood, the sister appears to have recovered from all her traumas, carrying on with a completely ordinary life in the eyes of the world. This feels impossible to our protagonist, making us question why—if both women had such similar lives, even with the older one acting as the protector of the younger one—Nora has not been able to heal.
Here enters the figure of the father, who acts as a weight anchor. Symbolically, his return causes the house to begin sinking once more, centering the conflict around what to do with the property and the memories it houses. This father, an acclaimed film director, tries to recruit his daughter for his next film. Faced with her refusal, a series of internal conflicts that the family tried to sweep under the rug are exposed, becoming no longer possible to silence. By seeking a substitute—an actress of much greater renown—the father manages to connect deeply with her from a paternal standpoint, stripping away the carnal aspect, perhaps as a reflection of the relationship he should truly have with his daughters, but which has become impossible for him due to a series of past events that ended in verbal family violence. Ironically, the substitute actress manages to see him as a father figure who protects and admires her in equal measure.
As our protagonist finds herself replaced, a distinct drive begins: a duel with her father to be recognized as she once was, but also to recover that trust and, on the other hand, to impose herself—not being a simple, interchangeable piece, but someone indispensable, something she does not try to demonstrate openly, but the film lets us see that this is her intention, guided somewhat by all the stories told through the house and with the house as a protagonist.
Something peculiar about this movie is that it doesn't shout its conflicts; in fact, there is very little shouting because the magic achieved by the director, Joachim Trier, is that the conflicts are right on the surface, very intense, but through very subtle actions. Making a parenthesis, as a Latino it was a bit difficult for me to assimilate this naturally because from my context these themes would be handled very differently, but seeing how other societies prefer to gloss over these conflicts and work through them at a deeper level, with a calm that seems imperative but underneath which a storm is occurring, was very interesting and perhaps made me dwell more on the actions.
Actions driven by captivating cinematography, where we can see a very interesting use of the camera, with somewhat subdued colors but very cinematic of European cinema, highlighting grain and with an almost documentary eye that traverses this whole family, to have an equally interesting closure, a perhaps metafictional closure that the film leaves us clues about throughout its denouement and that in this house manages to have a truly impressive resolution that we do not see coming in any way, even though the film is giving it to us all the time.
Putting all these elements together, we can say without a doubt that Sentimental Value is an experience worthy of being seen and perhaps worthy of being seen in the cinema alongside your family, because it can pull out of you a little of that which it tries to reflect, like looking into the abyss, and you already know the abyss looks back.
Versión en Español:
Está es una película que arranca con un quiebre emocional muy profundo, pero que da un giro hacia la grandilocuencia, construyendo su grandeza desde esa misma herida. A partir de ahí, la obra devela sus costuras al introducirnos en un drama familiar que gira en torno a una casa. Sin embargo, lejos de ser un mero objeto de conflicto, esta vivienda funciona como la salvaguarda sentimental de la familia. La fractura de este hogar se refleja en cada uno de los personajes; la forma en que lo asumen aporta al resquebrajamiento tanto de sus relaciones internas como de la familia a nivel simbólico.
La historia sigue a Nora, una actriz que intenta superar la pérdida de su madre mientras afronta el regreso de un padre ausente durante gran parte de su vida, pero con un gran impacto en su infancia. En medio de este duelo y la vuelta de una figura de autoridad, su único consuelo es su hermana. A pesar de haber compartido una niñez paralela, la hermana parece haberse recuperado de sus traumas, llevando una vida común a ojos del mundo. Esto le resulta imposible a nuestra protagonista, lo que nos hace cuestionar por qué, si ambas tuvieron vidas tan similares —donde la mayor incluso fungió como protectora de la menor—, Nora no ha podido sanar.
Aquí entra la figura del padre, quien actúa como un ancla de peso. De forma simbólica, su regreso provoca que la casa comience a hundirse nuevamente, centrando el conflicto en qué hacer con el inmueble y los recuerdos que alberga. Este padre, un aclamado director de cine, intenta reclutar a su hija para su próxima película. Ante su negativa, se destapan conflictos internos que la familia intentaba ocultar y que se vuelven insostenibles. Al buscar como sustituta a una actriz de mayor renombre, el padre logra conectar profundamente con ella desde un plano paternal. Este vínculo refleja la relación que debería tener con sus propias hijas, la cual le resulta imposible debido a episodios pasados de violencia verbal que fracturaron la confianza. Irónicamente, la actriz sustituta sí logra verlo como una figura paterna que la protege y admira.
Al verse reemplazada, Nora experimenta una pulsión distinta: un duelo con su padre para recuperar su reconocimiento, pero también para imponerse. Se niega a ser una pieza intercambiable, buscando volverse imprescindible sin demostrarlo abiertamente. Resulta peculiar que la película no recurra a los gritos para exponer esta tensión. La magia del director, Joachim Trier, radica en mantener los conflictos a flor de piel con gran intensidad, pero mediante acciones sutiles. Como espectador latino resulta un reto asimilar esta naturalidad, ya que en nuestro contexto estas temáticas se manejarían de manera más explosiva; es fascinante observar cómo otras sociedades prefieren solapar sus problemas y procesarlos con una calma aparente, ocultando una tormenta subterránea.
Esta narrativa se apoya en una cinematografía cautivadora. Destaca un uso interesante de la cámara, con colores apagados típicos del cine europeo, un marcado grano fílmico y un enfoque casi documental que atraviesa la intimidad familiar. La obra culmina con un cierre metaficcional fascinante, cuyas pistas se esparcen a lo largo de la trama, dándole a la casa una resolución impresionante e inesperada. En conjunto, Sentimental Value es una experiencia cinematográfica sobresaliente, ideal para ver en el cine en familia. Logra extraer del espectador las mismas emociones que proyecta en pantalla; es como mirar al abismo, sabiendo que el abismo te devuelve la mirada.
Rating: 90/100
