“Home is where the heart is.” The universality of that time-honored adage is in many respects at the core of Sentimental Value (Neon)--not just as it applies to the story but also as part of the process that went into telling that story. On the former score, director Joachim Trier’s film--which he wrote with long-time friend and colleague Eskil Vogt--is set in an old family home in Oslo that carries memories that help to define two sisters, now adults, and their strained relationship with a father who prioritized his filmmaking career over being a parent. The sisters are Nora (portrayed by Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas). Nora, the older sister, grew up to be an accomplished actor, following in the cinematic/stage career footsteps of her dad, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård in a Golden Globe-winning performance). After years of absence from Nora and Agnes’ lives, Gustav unexpectedly appears at the time-worn family residence to attend the funeral wake of the daughters’ mother but his prime motive for turning up is a movie that he wants to make in order to fuel his career comeback. And he has Nora in mind to play the lead in the film. She immediately refuses the role, which ends up going to a movie starlet (Elle Fanning). As shooting begins, psychological scars revert to open wounds and the presence of the American celeb forces Gustav, Nora and Agnes to look at themselves and their family’s fragile emotional underpinnings more closely. The family home is a repository of past lives spanning love, loss, alienation, joy, resentment and estrangement--as such, it’s a centerpiece for the characters in Sentimental Value and lends great insight into them. For example, at one point around the middle of the film, we see... Read More