Sentimental Value · reception & legacy
2025 · Joachim Trier
How Sentimental Value has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
No reappraisal needed yet — it landed as an instant event, winning the Grand Prix at Cannes 2025 to one of the festival's longest ovations, and rode that wave straight into awards season as Norway's Oscar entry. The only shift since: 'Cannes darling' hardened into 'the one to beat'.
What's debated
The recurring cinephile fight is whether it tops The Worst Person in the World or coasts on its warmth — with a vocal minority calling it Trier's safest, most awards-shaped film versus fans who say it's his most emotionally complete.
Its footprint
Its marathon Cannes standing ovation — reported at anywhere from 15 to 19 minutes, among the longest in the festival's history — became a news story and a running joke about ovation inflation in itself, with clips of a visibly overwhelmed Stellan Skarsgård doing the rounds.
Where it stands
An instant Letterboxd darling and one of the highest-rated releases of 2025, it's already treated as the film that promoted Trier from beloved arthouse name to major-auteur canon.