Sentimental Value

Parking lot debrief Trier and Reinsve are a match made in heaven. This beautiful family portrait encapsulates all that it means to carry burdens across generations. The compound interest of trauma, guilt, self destruction, identity crisis and a fear of and eventual turning over to facing the music by route of viewing one’s own performance . Throughout this beautiful film we see humans find power in the performance of mercy to eventually reach a conclusion of forgiveness Skarsgards attempt at “I’m sorry” by writing a script that both humanizes his own poor parenting and self-therapizes his trauma is perfectly on the nose for the character. And at the same time Reinsve avoiding her own self by route of acting instead of writing - a topic broached by her father in the film, is clever. Reinsve finds herself through this movie by proxy of the mirror that is her own father in so many ways. Powerful scenes on suicide and turning oneself over to a higher power once again create an emotional force as we think about what our parents and children will experience similarly to our own self - whether that be by mistakes or circumstance A final scene shot on set vs in the home ties the knots tight on skarsgard finding closure knowing the answers are not in the walls of the borg home no matter how many stories they have to tell - and Nora performing a version of herself rather than someone else forces her to own her flaws, mistakes, traumas, and reckon with the fact that she is rocketing towards another sad end in the Borg family Home imagery always works on me and the “one mistake” description forming an uneven surface on which cracks in the home have formed was an accepted metaphor This movie does not reach worst person in the world peaks, but it’s also not trying to. Reinsve is one all should have season tickets for. Her ability to melt into anything lay before her, her unbelievable range from piano to forte, and her slight but well communicated physical acting abilities combine to form what to me can be seen as a canvas the viewer can paint themselves on A lot of great dolley shots in this one, and anything shot in a beautiful home of course looks beautiful. I think this has a shot at a best picture nom especially given the momentum of trier and Reinsve, and 3x acting noms plus original screenplay could be on the table - directing also should be in contention but that might be a loaded category this year