New Delhi, Feb 17 (PTI) Acclaimed Norwegian director Joachim Trier, whose new movie “Sentimental Value” is nominated in nine categories at Oscars, says his films are personal and often come from a space where he has creative control.
“Sentimental Value”, a closely drawn portrait of a family and revolves around the strained relationship between an aging filmmaker and his two daughters — a homemaker and an actor, marks Trier and his co-writer Eskil Vogt’s return after 2021’s “The Worst Person in the World”, the much lauded story of a young woman’s search for love and identity.
The director said “Sentimental Value”, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in May last year, is his sixth film with Vogt and they feel lucky that they get to express freely.
“This is my sixth, written with Eskil Vogt, my co-writer. I come from a place where all my films are developed in a space where we have creative control and we make personal movies. We don’t make them to aim for a commercial genre or something like that.
“I grew up with films of Lars von Trier and Pedro Almodovar and people that made personal films from their culture. And I’m very grateful that I’m allowed to work this freely in the language, which is very expensive,” Trier said in response to a question from PTI during an international group interview.
Also known for “Reprise”, “Oslo, August 31st”, “Louder Than Bombs” and “Thelma”, Trier said very few Norwegian films travel outside. He hoped “Sentimental Value” to connect with different audiences, but its international popularity is still surprising for him.
“It moves me that you’ve seen my film and feel some connection to a simple story about family through the language of cinema because it’s kind of what I dreamt of after the applause in Cannes, which was a wonderful moment for me and my team coming from Norway to Cannes.
“They (at Cannes) gave me a microphone and I quoted Luis Bunuel. He said, ‘I make films for my friends.’ And that’s how I think. So, if I can make friends around the world and they feel that I’m communicating something personal, that’s my aim. I’m making personal films,” the director added.
Nominated for the best picture, best international feature, best director for Trier, best actress, best supporting actress, best supporting actor, best original screenplay and cinematography, “Sentimental Value” carries a more hopeful note than Trier’s other stories.
It comes from being a father, he said.
“While writing this film, I listened a lot to the Beatles again. I sing goodnight songs to my kids and want them to feel safe. I think in art, we can try to find a balance between dealing with something difficult and painful. And you’ve got to have some hope. You’ve got to think that even in a family where everything seems lost, it could be a picture of something bigger.
“When John Lennon sings ‘Imagine’, I, as a young punk, used to laugh and say ‘Oh, it’s a bit cheesy.’ I don’t think it’s cheesy anymore. I think it’s very moving,” he said about the late singer’s 1971 track which encourages listeners to imagine a world of without war and violence where people live in harmony.
Currently streaming on MUBI India, “Sentimental Value” reunites Trier with his “The Worst Person in the World” stars Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie. The cast also features Stellan Skarsgard, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Elle Fanning, Jesper Christensen, Lena Endre and Cory Michael Smith.
At the heart of the story is the dysfunctional relationship that the central character Gustav, played by Skarsgard, has with his two daughters — Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Lilleaas). An aging filmmaker, he returns to Norway to make a film on his troubled childhood but in reality, he wants to reconnect with his two daughters after being absent for most of their lives.
Trier said that while a good conversation in real life does not fix everything, he wanted the father-daughter relationship to reach a “good enough” stage in the movie.
“(It’s about) how can we maybe make peace with the other in the family? Maybe accept the differences and try to find peace with the grief that’s been shared over several years. I’m asking these questions with the film, but I don’t have answers.
“When you make a movie, you pretend to have all this control, but you actually don’t. You share it with the actors, you share it with the team. And finally you share it with an audience,” he added.
Trier is happy that the film has led to a lot of good conversations with people who have watched it.
“People are sharing stories of being siblings, a brother, a sister, a parent and a child. I’m a father now with two small children. And (there is) the ongoing questioning of inherited grief or trauma from history, family, and how do I become a border and protect my children from the transference, which ultimately I won’t be able to control. So many things in family life are transferred without the social language of speaking,” he added.
