Sentimental Value (2025)

Winner of the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, this intimate drama tells the story of the Borgs and the house that has been in their family for generations. Father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård) left the home when his daughters Nora (Renate Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) were still young, divorcing his therapist wife Sissel after years of fighting to focus on his career as a filmmaker. He comes back into their lives when Sissel dies and after the funeral he explains to Nora, who is now a fairly successful stage actress, that he has written a movie inspired by his mother’s suicide and he wants Nora to play her. Nora refuses, citing his alcoholism and overall absence in their lives. At a film festival in France, Gustav meets American actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) and convinces her to take the part, mainly because her star power will secure the financing needed to make it. Nora and Agnes then have to divvy up their mother’s belongings to clear the house so that Gustav can use it for filming, and get to see firsthand how much better he treats Rachel. Tensions rise even higher when he casts his grandson Erik without Agnes’s permission and Rachel, realizing the part is not right for her, exits the production. During all this, Nora is also carrying on an affair with her married costar too and we get to see a little side booty from Renate as they chat in bed. But the lone nudity comes in a flashback to when Gustav’s aunt Edith (Mari Strand Ferstad) takes over the family home after his mom’s suicide. His mom had spent two years being tortured by Nazis in a concentration camp for being part of the resistance movement, so later Edith would throw raucous house parties in the 60s to annoy the neighbors because it was one of them that ratted her sister out. One of the partygoers is played by Julia Küster, a beautiful brunette who goes sunbathing topless and swaps spit with Mari. Now that’s the way to fight back. Viva le Resistance… to clothes!