If you were near the Grand Théâtre Lumière on Wednesday night in Cannes, you’d have heard it: nineteen solid minutes of applause.
Not for a starry blockbuster, a controversial shocker, or a splashy comeback. No, the most heartfelt ovation at Cannes this year was for Sentimental Value - a comedy-drama about stage fright, sisterhood, and the complicated love between a father and his daughters.
A modest premise, maybe. But in the hands of filmmaker Joachim Trier - the quietly masterful director behind 2021’s The Worst Person in the World - it’s become something of a sensation.
Apparently, that was enough to move the famously stoic Cannes crowd to tears and thunderous applause. “I didn’t think I could cry at Cannes again,” one critic was overheard saying after the screening. “But this one got me.”
Reviewers are already calling it his finest work. The audience at Cannes certainly agreed, clapping so long it clocked in as the third-longest standing ovation in the festival’s 78-year history.
Set in Oslo, Sentimental Value follows a successful actor who, at the height of her fame, finds herself paralysed by stage fright. Forced to return home and confront the emotional rubble of her past, she reunites with her estranged father and younger sister. Cue: laughter, resentment, buried trauma, and a whole lot of touching Scandinavian introspection.
Starring Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, the film doesn’t shout for your attention. Skarsgård plays the father, an ageing, self-absorbed theatre director still clinging to his own spotlight.
Reinsve is the daughter who has finally eclipsed him. And Lilleaas, as the younger sister who stayed behind, brings a fierce kind of stillness that anchors the entire dynamic.
There’s nothing flashy here - no car chases, no twists, no AI-generated multiverses. Instead, Trier leans into what he does best: complex people having beautifully written conversations in minimalist kitchens. But somehow, he makes this feel urgent and cinematic, even thrilling.
Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson put it this way: “Trier has once again crafted a film that is graceful and limber, thoughtful and surprising.”
David Ehrlich, writing for IndieWire, called it “a layered masterpiece that Trier has been working toward for his entire career.” And Variety’s Peter Debruge - not usually one for sentiment - admitted the film is “an inspiring exception” to the usually cringe genre of ‘therapy-through-filmmaking.’
Though primarily Norwegian, Sentimental Value slips seamlessly into English during scenes with Elle Fanning and Cory Michael Smith, who play members of Reinsve’s character’s international acting circle. Their presence doesn’t jar.
With its natural light, Oslo feels more intimate than ever - less travel-brochure scenic, more lived-in and the soundtrack tugs just hard enough at the heartstrings without tipping into manipulation.
There’s also buzz about awards - and not just in the Best Actress category, though Reinsve is certainly a frontrunner. Skarsgård, as the emotionally unavailable but somehow still sympathetic father, delivers one of his most affecting performances in years.
Whether or not Sentimental Value triumphs on awards night, it has already cemented its place in the Cannes canon. And with a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s set to become the word-of-mouth darling of the festival season.
So yes, this year’s Cannes may have had A-listers in latex, shock debuts, and a fair share of flops. But in the end, it was a small, melancholic story from Norway - about a father, two daughters, and the fear of being seen - that moved the world’s glitziest film festival to its feet.
And kept them there for nineteen minutes.
