"Trier's work often throws off a hyper-caffeinated energy; "Reprise" (2006) and "The Worst Person in the World" (2021), both portraits of early adulthood, are as winningly mercurial as their protagonists. His latest movie skews older, and it feels zonked out by comparison. Scene by scene, it's impeccably crafted, flawlessly acted, and emotionally anesthetized. Trier can do restraint beautifully-"Oslo, August 31st" (2012) is an addiction tale of shattering stillness-but "Sentimental Value," which he wrote with Eskil Vogt, mistakes whispery sedateness for maturity."
"Nora is an accomplished stage actress, and she's startled when Gustav, who hasn't made a film in years, hands her his new script and asks her to play the lead role, Anna. She refuses, not because the material isn't good- as we're told repeatedly, it's very good indeed-but because she can't stand Gustav, who left her and Agnes when they were still young. Gustav has his own abandonment issues."
Sentimental Value follows septuagenarian director Gustav Borg as he awkwardly attempts to reconnect with two long-estranged daughters after their mother's death. Gustav offers his daughter Nora a starring role in his new script, but Nora refuses because he abandoned her and her sister when they were young. The film is impeccably crafted and flawlessly acted yet emotionally anesthetized, favoring whispery sedateness and restrained ambiguity over overt feeling. Trier's earlier work carried hyper-caffeinated energy; here restraint reads as zonked-out maturity. The narrative prioritizes fraught silences, meaningful glances, and unresolved longing rather than cathartic resolution.
Read at The New Yorker
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