Sentimental Value

I truly didn’t think it was humanly possible for me to cry even more this time than during and after I first watched this film.  I want to get more into what Sentimental Value means to me in this review, considering my last one was pretty short. Oh god, where do I even start with this? Sentimental Value follows two sisters and their relationship with their father. This is probably what I would tell you if you asked me what this film was about. But oh boy there’s much more to that. This film deals with themes of depression. suicide, trauma, love, distance, fear, the concept of home and a lot more. It hands you all that with beautiful pictures, heartbreaking dialogues and scenes that make you emotional even though they are not exactly sad.  This film means so much to me. Personally this hits VERY close to home. I think that not a lot of people “understand” everything that is going on emotionally between the people in this film. There are so many things you can read out of the expressions that are on their faces, but I think you can only really read those if you’ve been in these situations. After the screening was over, a therapist came into the theatre and everyone in the room just talked and reflected on this movie. I heard some people say that the end is something positive and a new beginning for Nora and her father, where their relationship possibly changes for the better. I strongly disagree. For myself at least, I can say that I sometimes have some really nice moments with my father and I think: “Maybe this is going to work out. Maybe it’s going to be ok after all. Maybe he did change.” But every single time, when I think our relationship is going to get better, he does or says something that reminds me why I distance myself from him.  So a lot about me but let’s get back to the movie. I think that the end isn’t really a “happy end”. Sure it could be, but it’s just really unrealistic considering their past. It’s hours after watching it and I still can’t stop crying. I pretty much never cry while watching films but y’all don’t even want to know how much I balled my eyes out. Maybe watching this wasn’t the best thing I could’ve done for my mental health haha. I truly think this film was made for me, about me. It’s stupid and selfish saying “No one gets this film the way I get this film” but it just kind of feels like that. I see myself in Nora’s character so much, it’s scary how similar we are. I know that all the people that have complicated relationships with their parents can see themself represented in this movie. Probably one of my favourite films ever. Need to recover from this during the next couple of months.