{"id":224950,"date":"2026-01-07T07:27:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/224950\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T07:27:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T07:27:15","slug":"sentimental-value-sisters-on-scene-that-punched-me-in-the-stomach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/224950\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Sentimental Value’ Sisters on Scene That ‘Punched Me in the Stomach’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Part of the brilliance of Joachim Trier\u2019s \u201cSentimental Value<\/a>,\u201d the Cannes Grand Prix-winning<\/a> drama about a family pushed away and pulled back together by their art, chosen to represent Norway in the Best International Feature Oscar race<\/a>, is how long actors like Renate Reinsve<\/a> and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas<\/a> were able to live with their characters.<\/p>\n

Reinsve knew she would be playing older sister Nora, an accomplished Norwegian theater actress resistant toward reconciling with their internationally-renowned film<\/a> director father (played by Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd<\/a>), since Trier and writing partner Eskil Vogt began working on the film as a follow-up to the last time the trio worked together, 2022 Oscar nominee \u201cThe Worst Person in the World.\u201d But Lilleaas, a newcomer to Trier\u2019s growing acting troupe, had a somewhat intensive audition process to play younger sister Agnes, the glue of the family who forgoes her child acting career to be a researcher, married with a kid.<\/p>\n

\"(Left<\/a> \"'Marty<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a standard process in the beginning, where the casting director called, and you do a first audition, and then on the second audition, I was doing a test with Renate but also had a half an hour conversation with Joachim,\u201d she told IndieWire over Zoom. \u201cThat was new to me, that a director took that time that early in the process to get to know the people who he\u2019s auditioning, which I thought was brilliant because he really gets to know you and you get to know him. It\u2019s a mutual testing of each other. And I had a really lovely conversation with him that made me feel very safe and respected, and I think that affected the way the audition went, to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The audition process would continue for five more months, \u201cbut I remember feeling like just having had that experience of that process, and going into those meetings, and those tests, and working on those scenes with Renate and the other actors I tested with, was an experience in itself that I would treasure for the rest of my life even if I didn\u2019t get the part,\u201d she said. \u201cBut luckily, I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reinsve, also on the Zoom call, told IndieWire that Trier \u201crewrote the role of Agnes a little bit when he found Inga, because she brought so much authenticity and rawness to the character, and she brought so much love to the set and the scenes and the characters. That dynamic in the process of casting her was something that he really, really saw was so valuable.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Sentimental\u2018Sentimental Value\u2019Neon<\/p>\n

Though both actresses have several scenes in the Neon release that leave an impression on viewers, already earning both nominations at the Golden Globes<\/a> and Critics Choice Awards<\/a>, the one they share in the climax of the film, geared around Agnes revealing something to Nora that reframes their relationship to their father, is the one that stands out even to them. \u201c[It] really punched me in the stomach,\u201d said Reinsve. \u201cThat was when I understood everything and everything changed for me and it turned the whole script around and I was so invested emotionally.\u201d<\/p>\n

They achieved that feat by having those months of preparation to make them feel comfortable enough on shoot day to take risks, and creative turns, should the scene call for it in the moment. \u201cThe auditioning process started in August and we filmed in August the next year, it was a year that I had to live with this character in a way. That was a privilege to have that much time to process something, almost unconsciously but also consciously. And to have those rehearsals and to get to talk about the script and the characters in-depth was really meaningful. At least for me, it gives it a lived life, because it\u2019s been with you for a long time,\u201d said Lilleaas.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth me and Inga come from the theater and we know how to build a character and do analysis and really be specific about some things,\u201d said Reinsve. \u201cBut when we\u2019re on set, it\u2019s very open. The process is very free and we want to chase those \u2018events,\u2019 as Joachim calls them, so that something really authentic occurs. But that can only happen because we\u2019ve done so much work in rehearsals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Best Actress Oscar contender notes that one of the benefits of working with Trier is that \u201che can really tap into what we do in a really subtle way. We never have to show him anything. We can be really truthful to the character and the situation and never have to make anything bigger than it is because he will pick it up. And then he doesn\u2019t necessarily need to know intellectually what happens between us but he knows how to use it in the edit if it\u2019s something authentic that occurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the aforementioned scene, in which the sisters are sitting next to each other on a bed, Lilleaas remembers mostly sticking to the script, until right before the end. \u201cThe only thing that\u2019s improvised really is when I go up and hug Renate, that was something that we made up in the moment,\u201d said the Best Supporting Actress Oscar contender. \u201cI had this impulse that I didn\u2019t follow, but [Trier] actually told me \u2018Go hug her.\u2019 And because he did that, I felt like I could say \u2018I love you,\u2019 which wasn\u2019t in the script.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RenateRenate Reinsve, Joachim Trier, Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning at the \u2018Sentimental Value\u2019 Los Angeles premiere after party held at Laurel Hardware on November 05, 2025 in West Hollywood, CaliforniaTommaso Boddi\/Variety<\/p>\n

The moment provides clarity to a concept that Trier has been calling his \u201cjazz takes,\u201d which he described in an interview with IndieWire\u2019s Anne Thompson<\/a> as a point in which they\u2019re wrapping a scene, where \u201cbecause you know the structure, you know the tune. But let\u2019s phrase it differently. Let\u2019s play it your way, different.\u201d He continued, \u201cThe loose take encourages the actors to continually search and fall on their ass. It\u2019s the \u2018hang loose\u2019 concept. Let\u2019s see where it goes. They know that I\u2019m next to the camera, and they want to do something unexpected. They find it. And I sit there and I cry and I laugh and I love them.\u201d Lilleaas said, \u201cIt\u2019s about the feeling of being free to react truthfully in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of all their preparation, Trier would also rarely need to shoot more than five takes before they captured what they were looking for. \u201cHe\u2019s very smart, because he doesn\u2019t want to spend our emotions, because it is an economy in emotions,\u201d said Reinsve, expanding on how they approached production on the family drama. \u201cIf you have a long run for two months and you have a lot of heavy emotional scenes, if he knows that he has the emotion he wants for the edit, then he doesn\u2019t need to do it over and over again. He trusts that it happened so you don\u2019t ever really get that tired working with him. He\u2019s very respectful of what it means to share emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reinsve added, \u201cIn that [bed] scene, it wasn\u2019t just me and Inga improvising, it was the whole room, the cinematographer and Joachim. And we were all so nervous about that scene because it\u2019s a pivotal scene in the movie so we knew it had to be a really, really good balance, because it\u2019s very emotional. And that\u2019s the most difficult scene to do because you don\u2019t want to give the audience the answers, you want to leave it open for them but still be truthful to what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

That inclusive environment developed by Trier extends up and down the call sheet, and front of and behind the camera. \u201cJoachim is very good at including people in that family, you never feel like you\u2019re an outsider. You\u2019re very quickly invited in and you feel ownership of the project very quickly,\u201d said Lilleaas. Every single actor in the film, no matter how big the role was, was on location for rehearsals, \u201cwhich was really nice because then you actually know someone when you meet on set and it\u2019s not like you meet a stranger on the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really the most collective process that I\u2019ve ever been in,\u201d added Reinsve.<\/p>\n

For more analysis of \u201cSentimental Value,\u201d and the 2026 Oscars<\/a> race as a whole, read \u201cIndieWire\u2019s\u00a0The Lead Up<\/a>\u201d where our Awards Editor Marcus Jones takes readers on the awards trail, interviewing more key figures responsible for some of the most compelling stories of the season, and offering predictions on who will win.\u00a0Subscribe here<\/a>\u00a0to receive the newsletter in your inbox every Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Part of the brilliance of Joachim Trier\u2019s \u201cSentimental Value,\u201d the Cannes Grand Prix-winning drama about a family pushed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,878,85,84210,6453,46,397,3220,38653,39750,123211],"class_list":{"0":"post-224950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-film","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-inga-ibsdotter-lilleaas","12":"tag-interviews","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-movies","15":"tag-oscars","16":"tag-renate-reinsve","17":"tag-sentimental-value","18":"tag-the-lead-up"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}