SENTIMENTAL VALUE

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film opens as a narrator (Bente Borsum) discusses how, as a child, Nora Borg wrote a school assignment on being an inanimate object. She chose her family’s home, which has been passed down through generations, and Nora interprets how the house might feel as though it had emotions, especially as she and her sister Agnes grew up listening to their parents arguing. The narrator says Nora received a high grade for it before turning her interests to acting.

In the present day, Nora (Renate Reinsve) is about to star in a play, but she is suffering a panic attack to the point of trying to tear off her costume. The director and other crew members, including her boyfriend Jakob (Anders Danielsen Lie), try to calm her down. After a brief delay, Nora goes onstage and gives a solid performance.

Nora and Agnes’s (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) mother Sissel (Marianne Vassbotn Klasson) has passed away. The sisters gather with family after the funeral at their old home, where Sissel still lived. Agnes is married to Even Pettersen (Andreas Stoltenberg Granerud) and is a mother to Erik (Oyvind Hesjedal Loven). Nora shows Erik an upstairs fireplace where they could hear the conversations from downstairs. Nora overhears the voice of her and Agnes’s father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgard), a noted film director who left the family when the sisters were young. While Agnes has a decent relationship with Gustav, Nora retains animosity toward him for his abandonment.

Gustav later invites Nora to a restaurant to try and catch up. He has only seen some of her acting work on stage and television, as he is not a fan of theatre and he thinks her show was terrible, but not because of her. Gustav shows Nora a script that he wrote for his latest film project, which he wants her to star in. She declines and says she wants nothing to do with the project.

Gustav goes to a film festival where one of his older films is shown, which featured a young Agnes as the main girl. American actress Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning), whose film is also screening at the festival, is moved by Gustav’s film and invites him to join her dinner party. They bond on the beach with members of her party, and Gustav tells Rachel about his project.

Nora has Jakob come over for sex, but she does not open to him as much as he wants her to. She later goes to join Agnes at the family home, where they go over personal items of “sentimental value” that belonged to Sissel. They are joined by Gustav and Rachel, as Gustav wants to shoot his film in the house, and he has decided to cast Rachel in the film since Nora turned it down. Gustav describes the project to Rachel as being inspired by his mother, who died in that house by suicide.

A flashback shows Gustav’s mother, Karin Irgens (Vilde Soyland), living in the house. In her youth, Karin joined the resistance against the Nazis and was imprisoned and tortured as a result. When Gustav was seven years old, Karin hung herself. The narrator also shows Gustav’s life growing up in the house before marrying Sissel and becoming parents to Nora and Agnes.

Nora later joins Jakob on a hike with friends of his. When she tries to kiss him, he shakes her off and suggests that they break up. She tries to maintain her focus on her current and future acting projects, while also dealing with her clinical depression.

Gustav and Rachel start to promote his film early on. During a press interview, one reporter questions Rachel about the lukewarm reception to her last film, which clearly makes her uncomfortable. Gustav interjects and insults the reporter while praising Rachel as the best talent of her generation before kicking the reporter out.

Nora is forced to see Gustav again at Erik’s birthday party, where he gifts his grandson “Irreversible” and “The Piano Teacher” (movies that Nora knows are inappropriate). The party itself goes well, until Nora later calls Gustav out for his implied infidelities and his overall abandonment. Later at night, Gustav is drunk and tries to leave a message for Nora, something that she called him out on earlier.

Agnes later goes to the library to look up information on her grandmother. She becomes emotional as she reads Karin’s recollection of being tortured for anti-Nazi propaganda.

Rachel tries to get into character for the role, though she feels she may be inauthentic since she will be speaking English while the other actors will speak in Swedish. She tries to learn to speak with a Scandinavian accent and also dyes and cuts her hair to resemble Nora. Meanwhile, Gustav approaches Agnes to try and get Erik into the film for the role of Rachel’s son. Agnes asks Gustav if he will attend Nora’s upcoming show, which he says he will.

Rachel later visits Nora at the theater where her show plays. They discuss Gustav and the project, which Rachel understands is personal to him and that it was meant to be for Nora, but Nora insists that she and Gustav cannot work together because they cannot communicate.

Agnes and Even attend Nora’s show, waiting for Gustav to show up, but he never does. Both sisters are visibly disappointed, even though Nora tries to hide it from Agnes.

Gustav runs into trouble with financing for his film. Rachel later visits him at home to tell him that she feels she is not right for the project and wishes to drop out, but she will stay on if it was what Gustav really wants. He is understanding, even as she starts to break down in tears, and he gives her a hug before sending her home.

Gustav visits Agnes with the script for his film. She tells him that she does not want Erik to be in his film and expresses her own frustrations with him over his leaving the family. Gustav leaves the script with Agnes, who looks it over before going to bed.

Agnes visits Nora at home to check on her. She brings her Gustav’s script, which Agnes says she thinks is very beautiful and acknowledges that the script was written both for and about Nora. While she is reluctant to read it, Agnes convinces her to read a specific monologue (one that Rachel earlier practiced). Nora is moved to tears while reading it. They discuss the rest of the script, specifically the suicide scene (Nora attempted suicide before the film’s events), but Agnes states it mixes aspects of Karin’s life. Nora thinks that Agnes grew up normal while she turned out with problems, but Agnes reaffirms how Nora was always there for her. The sisters embrace.

Gustav later collapses at home after another drunken evening. The sisters visit him in the hospital and laugh as they see him flirting with a nurse.

Gustav recovers and renovates the family home into a more modern aesthetic. He later manages to get his film started, and Nora and Erik end up joining the production and film a scene that Gustav had earlier described to Rachel. After wrapping up the scene, Nora and Gustav smile at each other.

After the death of their mother, sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, film director Gustav Borg, who abandoned the family when the sisters were young. Agnes has become a wife and mother, while Nora is an actress suffering from clinical depression. Gustav approaches Nora to star in his newest film, which he wrote for and inspired by her, but Nora declines and wants nothing to do with him. Gustav ends up casting American actress Rachel Kemp.

Agnes learns that the film is partially inspired by Gustav's mother Karin, who was imprisoned in her youth for anti-Nazi propaganda, and later committed suicide when Gustav was young. Gustav requests that Agnes let her son Erik be part of the film, but Agnes refuses. Rachel also eventually drops out as she feels she is not right for the part. Agnes reads Gustav's script and is moved by it. She shows it to Nora, who reluctantly reads it and is equally moved.

Gustav suffers an injury due to alcoholism but recovers. The film production gets off the ground, with Nora and Erik ultimately joining. Nora and Gustav appear to be on the path to mending their relationship.