Art as a Means of Reconciling and Catharsis, the Human Condition and Intergenerational Trauma

SENTIMENTAL VALUE

I was really intrigued by this Norwegian film called “Sentimental Value” directed by Joachim Trier that I’ve watched recently. The film’s supporting male actor Stellan Skarsgård won an award at the Golden Globes therefore, just as the film is at its peak in popularity, I presumed it was a good time to try to encapsulate how this film made me feel and made me think. Now, let’s talk about the film in a more detailed manner:

The film tells the story of a damaged relationship between two sisters and their father. Firstly, the film doesn’t have “over-the-top” directing in any way. The directing solely aims to emphasise the writing and the acting of the film. It is tender and intimate just like the acting. The performances of Inga Ibsdotter, Renate Reinsve and Stellan Skarsgård were sublime. Every little mimic and gesture enables the audience to further understand the relationship between the characters along with their actions.

If we focus on the story, we can see some recurring themes in it. One of the sisters, Nora, is an actress and the other, Agnes, starred in one of their father’s films when she was a child but isn’t an actress anymore. Their father, Gustav, is a director that hasn’t made a film in a long time. We can feel a sense of distance between the father and the sisters that is impossible to ignore. Nora uses acting as a means of expressing her suppressed emotions and to deal with them. Her father does the exact same when he comes up with his new film after being away from cinema for a long time. He uses cinema as a cathartic medium which allows him to cope with his past and present relationships with his family. In the end, it is the same art which has divided them and made it so that Gustav’s feelings are never confronted directly, that offers a possibility at reconciliation. In the film, we also notice another palpable component: Intergenerational trauma, the sins of the parents being transferred into their children(symbolised by the house in which they lived for generations). Gustav reflects inexorably the situation with his mother to his children and that causes him and his children to be more and more separated and distant.

Lastly, this film has left such an intricate taste in my mouth, watching this film was like watching no other. The combination of the potent acting, the subtle directing and the genius writing has left me in awe and in constant search of a film that can replicate the sentiment that I felt from watching this one. I would heavily recommend to anyone that likes drama films to give this one a watch.