NEW YORK (AP) — Joachim Trier, Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve have gathered in a backstage room at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. A screen on the wall shows the crowd inside, raptly watching their film, “Sentimental Value.†They have all consciously sat facing away from the movie.
But if there’s one moment from the film they sometimes sneak in for, it’s the final scene. At festivals, they’ve sometimes taken the stage for a Q&A with tears still in their eyes.
“The ending always moves me,†SkarsgÃ¥rd says. “On the paper, it really scared me. It could have been sentimental hell, not ‘Sentimental Value.’ What was important to me was that nothing was resolved. I hate the word closure. There’s no closure in life. But there’s something more beautiful.â€
“Sentimental Value,†written and directed by Trier, builds its emotional power subtly through scenes that, like much of the acclaimed Danish-Norwegian filmmaker’s filmography, pulse with the rhythm of life. By the time the film reaches its crescendo, a simple exchange of looks is enough to leave you stirred to your core.
That effect isn’t new to fans of Trier’s previous films, like “Oslo, August 31st†or his previous one, which starred Reinsve. But “Sentimental Value,†which Neon opens in theaters Friday, is uniquely personal statement for Trier that also happens — because it’s so much about the intermingling of life and art, and how one enriches the other — to resonate deeply with his two stars.
Skarsgård plays the venerated filmmaker Gustav Borg, who has long been estranged from his family. But after the death of his ex-wife, Borg comes back into the lives of his daughters Nora (Reinsve) and Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas). Like her father, Nora is tough and stubborn, and her outlet is in performance. Gustav wants her to star in his new and highly autobiographical film, a project that also draws the interest of an American starlet (Elle Fanning).
Both Reinsve and Skarsgård have direct similarities to their character. Reinsve, 37, experienced a breakthrough in “The Worst Person in the World.†Skarsgård, 74, is the father of eight, many of them actors. But “Sentimental Value," the , has deeper reverberations for them, and for Trier. In a conversation that, like one of Trier's films, featured embraces and tears and the gratification of feeling seen, the three reflected on making a film poised between life and fiction.
AP: Like Gustav does for Nora, Joachim wrote this with both of you in mind. What did you think?
REINSVE: For me it was nerve-racking because he knows me so well. I didn’t know what he was going to find. He’s very smart and very wise, so what he finds is probably the truth.
TRIER: The revealing of something in art is what interests us. So one might think I know too well what to do, but it’s a compliment to these actors that they’re able to come into a position of control and craft and yet (laughs) unhinge themselves in unusual ways in front of the camera. You want that. You yearn for it. What, you were worried I’ll reveal something you don’t want to show?
REINSVE: Yeah.
TRIER: But you are so brave.
REINSVE: But I became brave with you. In the theater, I worked on a lot of characters that you build and construct. You’re making it big for the audience. Playing Julie in “The Worst Person in the World,†you encouraged me to let go of that. I remember one of our first conversations, I was worried because I didn’t know how to build her. And you said, “But do you have to? Can’t you just find it in you?†For me that was so scary.
AP: How did you respond, Stellan?
SKARSGARD: It’s flattering in a way, but you’re not sure if it’s flattering. The character on the paper wasn’t really what he is in the film. I remember I said to you, “Can’t you get over your problems with your father?â€
TRIER: And I said, (voice intentionally squeaking) “I’m over them!â€
SKARSGARD: The hard edges of the character were very obvious in the script, but the compassion wasn’t.
TRIER: When you came into it, that solved it. I mean, character is something that happens with actors.
AP: Renate, did you connect with a character that lets her emotions out in acting? To me, the film deepens when everything pours out of Nora, but it's for a scene.
SKARSGARD: Oh, that's the best.
TRIER: We love that scene.
REINSVE: Before I worked with Joachim, I played a lot of characters that keep their emotions really inside and aren’t able to let them out. Joachim built that trust because of how he worked and how he sees people. It was safe to let go of something in there. He sits beside the camera and whispers. He can tap into the actor’s instinct. I’m a person or an actor who has a lot of resistance, which is good for the dynamic in a character. But it can also hinder you from letting go of something you need to. Joachim sits there and knows what the actor wants to do and he says, “Let yourself do it.†It feels like we’re doing it together.
AP: In “Sentimental Value,†art can be a solution to the character's real problems. Has it been that way for you?
SKARSGARD: I’ve always seen acting as a way of being able to do what you can’t do in your private life. I’m pretty reserved, in a way. I am!
REINSVE: Not with us.
TRIER: I hear you say that!
SKARSGARD: But it’s fantastic to have this art where you can also test everything. Can I feel that? Wow! Yeah! It’s like a child playing in a sandbox. It’s the same mechanism. They play other people from day one. Maybe it’s evolutionary: mimicking the adults to survive.
REINSVE: We’re still children mimicking the adults.
AP: Joachim, you had your first children while making the film. That must have played a role in such an intergenerational story.
TRIER: It’s funny because a lot of people have trouble making art of a personal sort. They sing a strange, sensual love song in a band and they’re shy that their parents will hear it. Or you write a book that’s transgressive. I'm the opposite. I’m rather proud that I've done personal films because my kids will see them. Maybe they’ll see them and think they’re stupid or my opinions are weird. That’s OK, but they were me. I think this film came out of a climate in my life when I was thinking about these things.
AP: Your films have a way of breathing, of allowing for time. The ending of “Sentimental Value†is that way.
TRIER: That was when I knew I had the film I wanted to make, when I had the idea of ending. We were all nervous about it. The last day of the shoot. I’m so proud of you two. My dream came true.
AP: That moment includes a lot of back-and-forth. It has a rhythm, though, Stellan, you have your own rhythm in every scene I've ever seen you in.
SKARSGARD: I’m glad that you say I have a rhythm because I really care about rhythm. Scenes are to me like music pieces. He wrote this for me and the (expletive) and he’s seen what I’ve been longing for: the acting between the lines. (Skarsgård begins tearing up.) I’m getting emotional.
TRIER: I think you are incredibly smart with screenwriting, so much so that I was nervous going in. You’re very blunt in a very warm way. You say “(Expletive) this†or “You don’t need this.â€
SKARSGARD: It's being allowed to do a film that’s not written in a head of a director. He’s exploring it. There’s nothing like it. (Again Skarsgård gets emotional before shaking his head.) Enough!
AP: Renate, how do you relate to that final moment?
REINSVE: This is it. I feel this moment is it. It brings to the surface something we're longing for. The human mind needs to create a narrative and make things black or white to protect itself. That’s a problem in the world, being so polarized. The wisdom is being safe enough to create a space to let anything happen and see the nuances between people. There are no sets like Joachim’s sets. It's a process — what is it? Art creates life, imitates…
SKARSGARD: You never get it right.
REINSVE: I never get it right. But it’s both ways! Here, art imitates life, life imitates art. It’s both ways.
