Director Joachim Trier, and actors Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning attend a Q and A for the movie in November, 2025 in NYC
After the death of their mother Sissel, the estranged sisters Nora and Agnes Borg are forced to confront their distant father Gustav, a once-famous but now almost forgotten film director who abandoned the family when the girls were still young. Nora, now a driven stage actress, has prioritized her career above all else, while Agnes chose a stable life with a husband, child, and secure job—creating a stark contrast that further strains their relationship. Gustav, convinced that an autobiographical screenplay he's written will be his ticket back to fame, wants to tell the story of his mother, who took her own life in the family home in Norway—a place still partially owned by him and haunted by the trauma she endured from Nazi torture during the war. He offers the lead role to Nora, but she firmly refuses, prompting him to cast Hollywood actress Rachel Kemp instead, whom he met during a retrospective of his films in France. As filming begins, Gustav seizes the opportunity not only to revive his artistic legacy but also to mend the deeply fractured relationships with his daughters.
On 10 April 2025,Sentimental Value was announced to be competing for thePalme d'Or at the2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it had its world premiere on 21 May 2025 and received a 19-minute standing ovation.[11][12][13] The film's trailer was released on 1 July.[14]
Neon bought the distribution rights for North America in May 2024 at theCannes Film Festival when the film was first announced.[15] In April 2025,Mubi announced that they had acquired rights to the film for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India.[16] It was also screened in Open Air Premiere Programme at the31st Sarajevo Film Festival in August 2025.[17] It was released in France on 20 August 2025 by Memento.[18] It was released in the United States on 7 November 2025 by Neon.[19] It will release in Spain on 5 December 2025 byElastica,[20] and in the United Kingdom on 26 December by Mubi.[21]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 96% of 125 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Deftly exploring the uneasy tension between artistic expression and personal connection,Sentimental Value is a bracingly mature work from writer-director Joachim Trier that's marvelously acted across the board."[22]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[23]
In June 2025,IndieWire ranked the film at number 21 on its list of "The 100 Best Movies of the 2020s (So Far)."[24]
