Sentimental Value

Completely shattered me by the end. Aching in anticipation for that big bang of emotion and it came as expected. One that crawls up on you slowly in that regard of emotion with it choosing to sit In deafening silence to feel the ultimate burden the solitude of loneliness brings to them. heavily impactful and a poignant outlook on so many vast heartfelt topics like coming to terms with generational trauma and mending broken family dynamics. Hitting on all fronts, this film uses any way possible to tug on your heartstrings with steady editing and framing, and amazingly immersive performances.  Renate Reinsve gives one of my favorite performances of the year with a master showing of subtlety and commitment to the heavy emotions in the character. She says so much with not only the tenderness and shaky anger or sadness in her voice but also her expressions. Just one look of a close up has her conveying so many clashing emotions and feelings all at once that you feel every ounce of. Stellan is stellar, portraying a broken man trying to suppress his guilt and emptiness through the art form of film he’s seemingly always found fulfillment in. Inga and Fanning are amazing counterparts to those emotions as well, delivering Just as heartfelt and sentimentally charged performances every little chance of screen time they get. Also, Despite some characters’ little amount of screen time they all feel utilized just the perfect amount to reach the ultimate goal of reaching out to your heart of sympathy for this immensely broken family.  Trier’s direction in here is fantastic. It’s never flashy or overly dramatic but instead chooses to portray monotony and mundane silence as the worse grief and struggle. The empty rooms of silence feel loud in its pain of isolation. Interactions with others never feel like truly enough because they don’t desire that same level of emotional intimacy with you. Those small choices he makes in the narrative of slowly unraveling the story in a quiet and meditative nature is what ultimately grabs your heart. Throughout there’s always a sort of lingering feeling of wanting to mend that brokenness due to lack of fulfillment but just simply not knowing how to. Carefully framed close ups and lingering edits by Bougge Coutte convey all you need to know. The symmetrical nature of the camerawork and the shots that never leave force you to confront with each characters emotions with staring directly into their eyes of pain and sorrow. One of my favorite edited films of the year, not to mention that ending. Completely immerses you into the sadness of it all to take the turn for happiness you least expected in the midst of your overflow of emotions. The hype is real for this film and I don’t think we’ll see many more this poignant and emotionally effective this year.