Sentimental Value

*I want a home. I want a home. * Families are imperfect, messy and not something you choose, you are born into it. Just because one has a family does not mean one has a home. This film weaves together family trauma and estrangement with objects of sentimentality. Connecting the family house and its structural flaws to the flaws of the family was an equally apt visual representation of the familial issues. It also equally reflects the rooms around the house with specific memories and quirks tied to it, the house itself is the vessel of sentimental value. Here the house contains a complex amalgamation of memories, a space of nostalgic sentimentality yet also a painful reminder of loss and sadness. Every time a different member of the family moves in to fill the vacancy, the interior goes through a series of renovations and redecorations. They try to make the space their own, yet no matter how hard they try to alter the space, its history lingers in the negative space of what once was. The beauty of the structure of the narrative is in how the final act ties the whole film together with such emotional force. A disjointed albeit chronological narrative that culminates with the subtle genesis of familial healing, a look of acknowledgment, a shared smile. Renate Reinsve is a tour de force in her portrayal of a tortured stage actress. The dialogue finds balance and repose between subtext, the unsaid, and what is said. There’s a subtle sense that this film seems to evoke a Kierkegaardian existentialism, a need to acknowledge one’s despair to find meaning. Someone said praying isn’t really talking to God, it’s acknowledging the despair, to throw yourself on the ground because that’s all you can do… A contemplative masterpiece worthy of its accolades.