Skarsgård brings his magic back in 'Sentimental Value'

The focus of Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” may be small and limited — one Norwegian family struggling to connect and communicate — and yet its emotional scope is downright cosmic.

- 

This is a film about life in the arts, about fulfillment and forgiveness, about performance, about stories true and falsely remembered, about home, about trauma, about allowing oneself to be seen and about some really excellent sweaters. And at its heart is Stellan Skarsgård, doing some of his finest work in years as an acclaimed film director, Gustav Borg, who always chose his work over his family. Gustav is a familiar type, the kind of charismatic narcissist that professions like film director seem to attract and, often, exaggerate.

He's the kind who's able to forge deep and meaningful connections with actors he’s just met and will only know for a few months that will produce great and lasting art. Yet his own daughters, Nora ( Renate Reinsve ) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), may as well be strangers. Now with his career in danger of fading into retrospective territory, he’s trying to right those wrongs (and, you know, make a comeback) the only way he knows how: Making another movie. Some people never learn.