If This Movie Wins the Palme d'Or, It Will Extend a Staggering Streak

New York Times

22-05-2025

They sounded froggy. Their eyes were heavy. But underneath all that fatigue, it was clear that the cast and crew of 'Sentimental Value' were in good spirits during their Cannes Film Festival news conference on Wednesday.
'If my voice is a little rusty, it's because the film was apparently well-received and we had the party yesterday,' said the co-writer Eskil Vogt.
Later, the actor Stellan Skarsgard's voice also faltered at the news conference. 'I was at the same party,' he said apologetically.
I, too, had been to that late-night soiree, crammed shoulder-to-shoulder with people eager to celebrate the festival's biggest hit so far. Earlier that night, 'Sentimental Value' received the most supersized standing ovation of Cannes, immediately distinguishing it as one of the strongest contenders to win the Palme d'Or. And if it does take that prestigious trophy, one of the most remarkable streaks in cinema will extend even further.
The film's distributor, Neon, is now angling for its sixth consecutive Palme d'Or, following 'Parasite,' 'Titane,' 'Triangle of Sadness,' 'Anatomy of a Fall' and 'Anora.' Most insiders believe the Palme could go to 'Sentimental Value,' the Iranian drama 'It Was Just an Accident' or the Brazilian entry 'The Secret Agent,' though Neon also bought the latter two films after they premiered this week, further improving the company's odds.
It may help that the 'Sentimental Value' director Joachim Trier has come close to the top prize here before: His previous film, the dramedy 'The Worst Person in the World,' won the best-actress award at Cannes for its lead, Renate Reinsve. 'Sentimental Value' finds them reteaming for the story of Nora, a Norwegian stage actress who is reluctantly reunited with her estranged father, Gustav (Skarsgard), after her mother's funeral.
Gustav was barely there for Nora and her sister when they were growing up, prioritizing his once-thriving career as a director. But he has come to Nora in a last-ditch effort to mend their relationship, having written a new film about his family in which he hopes his daughter will star. When Nora flatly refuses, Gustav entices an American actress (Elle Fanning) to play the lead instead. Still, as he moves back into their childhood home to begin preparing the picture, long-buried tensions between father and daughter rise once more to the surface.
'Doing this film, I was a bit shy,' Trier said at the news conference, nodding to his longtime collaborator Vogt. 'We come from kind of a punk background, Eskil and I. We were counterculture and didn't want to make soppy movies.'
Though the new film isn't soppy, it is at least heartfelt. Trier said that was by design.
'Tenderness is the new punk for me,' he said to applause. 'This is what I need right now. I need to believe that we can see the other, I need to believe there is a sense of reconciliation, that polarization and anger and machismo isn't the only way forward.'
Still, at least there's something of a punk element associated with the movie. At the end of her Coachella set last month, the singer Charli XCX teased that it was time to pass her Brat Summer baton to other musicians and filmmakers making new work this season. Included in that tribute was a flashing title card that read 'Joachim Trier Summer,' a phrase that Fanning embraced by wearing it on a T-shirt at the news conference.
'I was stoked that you made that!' enthused Trier. 'The problem is, I've been working so much for the last three years, I don't even know what a Joachim Trier Summer is anymore. But I'll try to have one as well.'