Sentimental Value

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⭐ 8.5/10

I'm sure all our readers are dying to know my Renate Reinsve take that Joe teased in his review. Well I won't keep you waiting - she's Dakota Johnson if she knew how to act!

Anyways, Joe's review is very much in line with my thoughts on this movie. If I tell you this is about generational trauma and a family of actors/directors that sounds super pretentious, but this movie is very heartfelt. It doles out minor revelations that really expose the characters, making you rethink how you feel about them and some of their behaviour. Just really excellent writing, a tight movie where every scene and line serves a purpose.

The best part of this movie to me is the opening couple minutes, a voiceover anthropomorphising a house that generations of this family have lived in. It is incredibly beautiful, and as you explore the house and the people in it throughout the movie you have this backstory in your head. Corny to say the house is a character, but the most painful part of the movie to me was a renovation, felt like those backsplash tiles being peeled up were my very own skin! Very impressive use of setting, every room has a story and in some cases a dark story, and every scene is better for it. Truly phenomenal, my lasting memory of this movie.

Of course the acting is great, and I love movies about people making movies. The director giving his young grandson a stack of Blu-Rays for his birthday and name dropping Monica Bellucci was very funny. But this movie is also critical of actors and directors in a way, with a standout scene being Skarsgard watching an American actress do a scene that was meant for his daughter. Tremendous restraint in his acting as he watches this actress go all in, a cool meta moment where you can basically read his mind. We see similar over-the-top acting right in the beginning with a stage performance by Reinsve's character, and the portrayal of stage fright was quite gripping. Unglamourous looks at glamourous professions.

You can't escape the trauma here, and like Joe I thought the ending was maybe a bit tidy, but it also felt cathartic, so I'll allow it. It's powerful seeing how children response to the actions and ailments of their parents, and kind of terrifying as a parent. Shoutout to the scene of Skarsgard reacting to rewatching a scene of his young daughter acting in one of his movies, a look of stunned pride that I'm sure he's actually felt with children of his own who are also actors.

I've watched a bunch of movies lately that are essentially perfect, but fall below a perfect score simply because they don't resonate with me in the way I expect a 10/10 to. I really loved this movie, and would recommend it to basically everyone.

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