London Film Festival 2025 – Sentimental Value ★★★★

Released: 26 December 2025

Director: Joachim Trier

Starring: Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skargsard, Elle Fanning

Joachim Trier has become one of the pioneering figures in Nordic cinema with his Oslo trilogy comprising Reprise, Oslo, August 31^st and The Worst Person in the World. The latter of these proved an international smash, earning a string of accolades and rave reviews. Trier now re-teams with the lead of The Worst Person, Renate Reinsve, in the hotly anticipated Sentimental Value.

It follows Reinsve’s Nora Borg, a stage actress and her sister Agnes. Both are coming to terms with the recent death of their mother and forced to face their long-absent father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), a celebrated filmmaker, attempting to make his first narrative feature in over a decade. Winning the Grand Prix at Cannes has marked it out as a major awards contender across a plethora of categories.  

Gustav asks Nora to star in his film, which on the surface is about his late mother who died when he was young. He intends to shoot it in his and his daughter’s childhood home. Nora immediately says no, and Gustav eventually decides to make the film with celebrated actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning).  

There are certainly shades of The Worst Person in the World within the cast and their behaviour, particularly in Nora’s personality. This is largely confined to the first half, and it feels like a slightly more mature older sibling in many ways, more contemplative, diving into Nora and Agnes’ trauma from both the loss of their mother and the absence of their father in their lives and reconciling his newfound interest in being a family. 

Having started in a string of acclaimed Nordic films, it is refreshing to see Skarsgård in a film of this type. Gustav is a complicated character, and he gives a career-best performance, capturing his regret and self-centred nature, more to him than meets the surface. Renate Reinsve and Joachim Trier are clearly a match made in heaven, and she is once again electric here, a livewire, sharing more with her father than she’d like to admit, her life permanently affected by her youth and familial history.  

This is both an examination of familial trauma and history, and also a critique of the modern film industry, which brings some hearty laughs. Despite obvious similarities to his previous film, it is its own beast, emotional, open, with moments of much-needed levity and warmth.  

Sentimental Value is another hit for Joachim Trier with stellar performances from its cast, particularly Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård. It is certainly award-worthy and will undoubtedly be in the conversation in many leading categories. Once again demonstrating how singular a filmmaker Trier is, telling a more emotionally resonant story that will appeal to both long-time fans and those less familiar with his work.