11/04/2025 - Toplined by Renate Reinsve, the pic is the helmer’s sixth feature and his third main competition entry after Louder than Bombs and The Worst Person in the World

Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas in Sentimental Value (© Kasper Tuxen)

Joachim Trier’s sixth feature, Sentimental Value, starring Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning and Stellan Skarsgård, has been selected for the main competition of the upcoming Cannes Film Festival (13-24 May – see the news).

Co-written with longtime collaborator Eskil Vogt, Sentimental Value marks the director’s third entry in Cannes’ main competition, following Louder than Bombs [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile] (2015) and The Worst Person in the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile] (2021). The film tells the story of acclaimed stage actress Nora (played by Reinsve) and her younger sister Agnes (Ibsdotter Lilleaas), whose lives are upended when their estranged father Gustav (Skarsgård) – a once-celebrated film director – unexpectedly returns, seeking redemption and offering Nora the lead in his comeback film. However, Nora is reluctant to reopen old wounds. Elle Fanning plays a US movie star visiting Oslo as the past resurfaces in unpredictable ways.

Billed as “an intimate and poignant exploration of family ties, memory and the redemptive potential of art,” Sentimental Value unfolds in and around a family home in Oslo — a space imbued with personal and generational history.

Kjersti Mo, CEO of the Norwegian Film Institute, praised the selection, stating: “Joachim Trier returns to Cannes’ main competition for the third time, and we are incredibly proud of this achievement. We hope that Sentimental Value will follow in the footsteps of The Worst Person in the World and reach audiences across the globe.”

Produced by Maria Ekerhovd for Mer Film and Andrea Berentsen Ottmar for Eye Eye Pictures, Sentimental Value continues Trier’s fruitful collaborations with key players in the European arthouse scene. Ekerhovd previously produced Bobbie Peers’ Palme d’Or-winning short Sniffer and Eskil Vogt’s The Innocents [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eskil Vogt
film profile] (Cannes 2021), while Ottmar has been involved in several Cannes titles, including Trier’s own The Worst Person in the World, Kristoffer Borgli’s Sick of Myself [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kristine Kujath Thorp
interview: Kristoffer Borgli
film profile] and Halfdan Tøndel’s Armand [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel
interview: Renate Reinsve
film profile].

The feature is a co-production with Zentropa (Denmark/Sweden), Komplizen Film (Germany), Lumen and MK Productions (France), with support from the Norwegian Film Institute, which backed it with NOK 20.5 million (approximately €1.69 million) in development and production funding. Nordisk Film Distribution will handle the Norwegian release, set for 12 September 2025. mk2 is managing the international sales, whilst Neon will distribute the pic in the USA and Canada.

Trier has steadily built an international profile since his acclaimed debut, Reprise [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
interview: Karin Julsrud
film profile] (2006). His breakthrough, Oslo, August 31st [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Trier
film profile] (2011), premiered in Un Certain Regard and cemented his reputation as a key voice in European cinema. His 2021 feature The Worst Person in the World was a critical and commercial hit, earning Renate Reinsve the Best Actress Award at Cannes and notching up two Academy Award nominations, alongside a BAFTA nod for Best International Feature.