Norway has selected Sentimental Value, the latest feature from director Joachim Trier, as its submission for the 2026 Academy Awards in the best international feature film category.
Trier’s follow-up to The Worst Person in the World, which was nominated for the best international feature at the 2022 Oscars, reunites the director with actress Renate Reinsve. Sentimental Value premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix.
Trier’s family drama centers on the sisters Nora and Agnes( Reinsve and Lilleaas), estranged from their charismatic but distant film director father Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård). In the wake of their mother’s death, Gustav reappears and tries to reinsert himself into their lives. He’s written an autobiographical script and hopes Nora, a successful stage actress, will take the lead role, giving him a form of cinematic redemption. When she refuses, he casts Hollywood star Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) in the role, a decision that brings simmering resentments, old wounds, and unresolved family tensions to the surface.
The Norwegian Oscar Committee, which selected the film, praised Trier as “a filmmaker who is confident, assured, and fully at the height of his storytelling talent.” In its statement, the panel described the film as “exquisitely well-crafted in every aspect,” highlighting its focus on a “complex father–daughter relationship.”
The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic, David Rooney, gave the film a rave in his Cannes review, praising Trier’s “exquisite new film” with its “faint traces of Bergman…but also Chekhov and Ibsen” creating a film that is “intensely affecting in a movie freighted with melancholy but also leavened by surprising notes of humor. As always with Trier’s films, its depth of feeling sneaks up on you without announcing itself.”
The drama, Trier’s sixth feature, is considered a strong Oscar contender not only in the international feature category but also in the main Academy categories, including the acting honors and best picture.
Neon has acquired Sentimental Value for release in North America. MK2 in France is handling international sales.
Norway has previously scored six Oscar nominations in the category, most recently with Trier’s The Worst Person in the World in 2022.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will unveil its international feature shortlist on Dec. 16, with the five nominees announced Jan. 22. The 98th Academy Awards will be held on March 15, 2026.
