Renate Reinsve Stars in 'Sentimental Value'

Summary

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Podcast Summary: All Of It with Alison Stewart

Episode: Renate Reinsve Stars in 'Sentimental Value'
Date: November 10, 2025
Host: Alison Stewart (A)
Guest: Renate Reinsve (B), Norwegian actor

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Overview

This episode centers on Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve and her lead role in the film Sentimental Value. Through an intimate conversation with host Alison Stewart, Reinsve explores the movie’s nuanced exploration of family dynamics, especially the fraught relationship between her character, Nora, a Norwegian actress, and her estranged, famous filmmaker father. The discussion delves deeply into themes of inheritance, emotional legacy, creative collaboration, and sisterhood.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Family Home as a Living Character

• [02:06] The film begins with a tour of the family home, which is both a setting and a character:
  • The house "shows how time passes and ... holds information about all these families that has lived there" (B, 02:13).
  • To Nora, the house is uncomfortable, representing her traumatic childhood: “She really didn’t have a good time. They grew up in a very aggressive home.” (B, 02:59)
  • In contrast, the actress who plays Nora’s sister felt deeply attached to the home, underlining how personal history colors memory.

Nora’s Character and Emotional Struggles

• Opening Breakdown Scene
  • Nora is introduced on the verge of panic before a stage performance, resisting vulnerability:
  • “She is struggling to be present in her life. But on stage, she can really go into what she’s carrying.” (B, 04:36)
  • “I love playing a good panic scene. It was a lot of fun playing that scene.” (B, 05:32)
• On Stage Fright and Empathy
  • Reinsve relates: “I get really scared, but I kind of know how to facilitate it in a way ... I panic of other things, but let’s not go into that.” (B, 06:15)
  • Observing another actress’ panic provided inspiration for the role.

Motivation for Acting

• Nora’s acting is fueled by a subconscious desire for connection with her father:
  • “I think ... she wants to be a part of her father’s life... the only place he can be present and ... communicate ... is when he’s directing.” (B, 07:13)
  • Yet, her anger and grief make genuine collaboration impossible.

Family Relationships & Sibling Perspectives

• Agnes, the sister, experienced her father’s attention briefly as a child actor but suffered when it ended:
  • “She had never felt so seen and so taken care of. But when production stopped, it was back to normal.” (B, 08:14)
  • The sisters’ different experiences highlight the variety of ways siblings reckon with the same family trauma.

On Working with Stellan Skarsgård (Father, Gustav)

• Casting & Performance
  • Skarsgård was chosen for his ability to add warmth to a character written as increasingly harsh:
    • “They really needed to cast someone who was a nice person.” (B, 08:46)
    • “He plays someone who really thinks he is a good person. And he is, but he’s so clumsy.” (B, 09:47)
• Key Scene:
  • A silent cigarette moment between Nora and her father conveys their complicated bond:
    • “You see them being so happy together ... that they admire each other ... it’s the only place you really see them ... it’s kind of the love scene between them.” (B, 11:00-11:24)

Turning Point: The Diner Script Scene

• Her father asks Nora to act in his new film, but undermines her past work:
  • “He presents that [the script] by criticizing all her choices so far … she feels so worthless just by him not having the respect to even discuss it with her.” (B, 11:48)
  • Nora decides they “cannot talk” and walks away, refusing to read the script.

Elle Fanning’s Character and Father’s Projections

• Gustav casts American star Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) in Nora’s role, which triggers complex feelings in Nora:
  • “She knows the actress is getting the treatment ... that she can’t have in real life.” (B, 13:01)
  • “Nora is a good person ... she’s being big in that moment, but she is, of course, jealous.” (B, 13:56)
• Notable visual parallel: Rachel dyes her hair to resemble Nora, symbolizing the father’s attempts to recreate his lost familial connection:
  • “Gustav is also projecting the relationship he wants with his daughters to the role, and he really wants Nora to do the character.” (B, 14:27)

Language and Performance

• The film moves fluidly between English and Norwegian:
  • “Of course you get a different sense of depth when you speak in your own language ... I could always be myself just struggling a bit with the words.” (B, 15:21)

Creative Collaboration with Joachim Trier

• On Character-Driven Storytelling and Ensemble Process:
  • “He writes characters that are so interesting, and his movies are character driven ... It’s such a pool of just artistic joy working with him.” (B, 16:26)
  • Trier’s meticulous planning allows space for improvisation:
    • “Everyone has an ideal version of the scene ... because it’s so structured we can be really flexible with improvising.” (B, 17:41)
• Comparing Process to Jazz:
  • “He even calls some takes jazz takes. He really wants his movies to be like an album that you want to listen to again and again.” (B, 18:46)

Sisters and Contrasting Coping Strategies

• Nora and Agnes each navigate trauma differently:
  • “Siblings can grow up in the same home and then have a totally different experience ... Agnes ... had Nora to protect her ... Nora ... struggles to make healthy choices ... so dependent on her sister.” (B, 19:30–20:46)

Mental Health and Avoidance

• Nora refuses therapy out of fear:
  • “She’s really scared of what she’ll find ... if she digs into it just a little bit, it might all fall apart.” (B, 20:57)
  • Her only safe connection is with Agnes, her sister.

On Rehearsal and Script Development

• Trier’s rehearsal process is collaborative and adaptive:
  • “He films the rehearsals so that he can alter the script together with Eskild Vogt.” (B, 22:44)
  • This creates a sense of ownership for the entire cast.

The Film’s Tone: Sadness and Hope

• Despite its melancholy, the film offers hope:
  • “There is so much hope in the complexity of how it ends and how those relationships are seen in the end of the movie.” (B, 23:42)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the film’s defining scene of connection:
  “That scene in some way, is really kind of the love scene between them. And you see the relationship.” — Renate Reinsve, [11:00]

• On the collaborative filmmaking process:
  “It really feels like a collective ... the whole room is improvising together.” — Renate Reinsve, [18:00]

• On working with director Joachim Trier:
  “It’s never about us. It’s about the project. It’s about the scene. It’s about something.” — Renate Reinsve, [16:26]

• On the complexity of the father-daughter relationship:
  “He plays someone who really thinks he is a good person. And he is, but he’s so clumsy and he just doesn’t know how to be good with his daughters.” — Renate Reinsve, [09:47]

• On trauma and avoidance:
  “She’s really scared of what she’ll find ... if she digs into it just a little bit, it might just all fall apart.” — Renate Reinsve, [20:57]

• On the film’s hopeful ending:
  “There is so much hope in the complexity of how it ends and how those relationships are seen in the end of the movie.” — Renate Reinsve, [23:42]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [02:06] — The significance of the family home and its atmosphere
• [04:15] — Nora’s opening panic and what it reveals
• [07:09] — Nora’s motivations for becoming an actor
• [08:36] — Stellan Skarsgård as Gustav and his contribution
• [11:00] — Key moment of connection between Nora and Gustav
• [11:48] — The confrontation over the script at the diner
• [13:01] — How Nora reacts when replaced by Elle Fanning’s character
• [14:21] — Discussion of the visual mirroring between Nora and Rachel
• [15:09] — Bilingual production and its impact on acting
• [16:26] — Working with director Joachim Trier
• [19:25] — The dynamics between sisters Nora and Agnes
• [20:57] — Nora’s mental health and avoidance of therapy
• [21:56] — Joachim Trier’s distinctive rehearsal methods
• [23:42] — The hopeful message of the film’s ending

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Conclusion

Renate Reinsve’s thoughtful reflections on her character and the collaborative process behind Sentimental Value illuminate the film’s rich emotional terrain. The episode offers both a behind-the-scenes look at the artistic process and a probing discussion of how art reflects—and refracts—our deepest familial conflicts and desires for connection. Director Joachim Trier’s approach and the strong performances by the cast, notably Stellan Skarsgård and Elle Fanning, emerge as central to the film’s layered impact. Despite its explorations of pain and estrangement, Reinsve emphasizes Sentimental Value’s ultimate message of hope and the enduring, if complicated, bonds of family.

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Transcript

[A]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in soho. Thank you for spending part of your day with us. I'm really grateful that you're here. On today's show, Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Kiera Allegra Hudes joins us to discuss her debut novel. It's titled the White Hot. We'll learn about a new HBO docu series, Alex versus A Rod, which is about the baseball superstar's career and fall from grace. And we'll preview DOC nyc, this country's largest documentary film festival. That is our plan. So let's get this started with a film about some complicated family dynamics. In the new film Sentimental Value, Renata Rinesve plays an actress who is struggling with her father, who just happens to be a very famous Norwegian filmmaker. Nora and her sister Agnes don't really want to talk about their famous dad, Gustav, who walked away from the family when the girls were still young. Gustav shows back up in the women's lives at a funeral from his estranged wife. He has a bit of an agenda. He's written a great script specifically for her, and it might be his return to cinema. But Nora is not having it. She won't even read the script. But when Gustav goes ahead and casts a big Hollywood star in Nora's place, things get complicated. Sentimental Value marks the third collaboration between Renata Reinsve and director Joachim Cheer. Rolling Stone calls it one of the best movies of the year. It's in theaters now and I'm joined in studio by actor Renata Reinsvee. It is nice to meet you.

[B]

Hi. Thanks for having me.

[A]

So the film really begins with this montage tour of the family home where both Nora and Nora's father have grown up. Where was this house? Did you actually film in the house?

[B]

We did. And. And the house in the movie is kind of its own character. It kind of shows how time passes and how the walls in the house really holds information about all these families that has lived there through generations and all those little moments that has meant so much for all of the people that had lived there. And really sets the framework of the whole movie, that that house.

[A]

What does the house mean to Nora?

[B]

Well, actually to her, she doesn't really like being there. So she's kind of estranged to the house. And it was so funny because the way Joachim works, we get really like empathetically, very leaned into her character and in the rehearsals, and then he showed us the house. And the actress playing my sister Inge, she plays Agnes. She was. She loved Being there, and she was so attached to the house. And then I. I couldn't really care less and I was so embarrassed. But it was because of the character. She really didn't have a good time. They grew up in a very aggressive home. And also her father, being a director, he was really present and so sensitive with everyone while working, but he was struggling to do that home. So even though he was there, he wasn't really present. And then he was also not present a lot of the time, physically. So I don't. I think that brings me all the memory back for her being there.

[A]

The kind of house it is is a special Norwegian style of architecture, so I guess super Victorian. How did you feel, you, Renata, feel about the house? Did it have a vibe to it?

[B]

Yeah, it was very special. It was actually a real family living there. And they showed us the pictures of. Of the actual house and times through or all the different, like, eras of the house. And it was actually pretty heavily documented, so. And we. I knew the family that lived there. It was so it. And we all had a relationship to the house while filming. So it was a really special place and it gave a lot of atmosphere to the movie and what we were going through.

[A]

When we first meet Nora, she's having sort of a breakdown in her dressing room. She's an actress. It's opening night of her play. She won't go on stage. She's ripping at her costume. She's trying to take her headpiece off. She even tries to run away at one point. What does this very stressful opening of the film tell us about Nora?

[B]

So, actually, just like her father, she is struggling to be present in her life. But on stage, she can really go into what she's carrying. She carries a lot of emotional weight from coming from that childhood in that house. And she's unable to process it and communicate it to the people around her and actually make relationships around her work based off of those emotions. But when she's on stage, in controlled environments of good lines and a situation that's set up, she can be free in being in that. But to get to that point, to be a good actress and access everything in you, you have to open up to all of that. And she's so uncomfortable with it, so she runs away and rips off her dress and really ruins it for everyone right before she goes on. And then later, when she's actually physically pushed on the. On the scene, to the scene, you can see that all of that emotional weight really is what gives her the force as an actress. So it's, I love playing a good panic scene. It was a lot of fun playing that scene.

[A]

What do you need to play a good panic scene?

[B]

Well, you need the dynamic or the. I think it's a comedic scene because I think it's very relatable, like how you don't really know it, but some things to go into, some things are so, so uncomfortable that you panic and you, you don't want to go there. And that kind of resistance in, in small things. And this is, of course, a very big scene, but you have it, I think, in everything in your life sometimes. So that, to me is, has a lot of comedy to it.

[A]

Did you, have you ever had stage fright like that before?

[B]

I get really scared, but I kind of know how to facilitate it in a way. So I, I, I, I can use it and it gives me energy, but I, I panic of other things, but I, let's not go into that. But I've actually seen that happen to another actress. So it's kind of based off of what I've seen. Yeah. And of course it's horrible to, to watch when someone's going through that, but it, it is always on some levels, it is funny looking back, not in the moment, but looking back and kind of working with that in the scene was, was fun.

[A]

I'm talking to Renata Rinesve. Her new movie is called Sentimental Values. She plays Nora, a woman struggling with her famous estranged father who wants to cast her in his latest film. So what has motivated Nora to become an actor?

[B]

I think what I really loved about this character was playing around with what she knew about herself and what she didn't know about herself. And I think one of the things she doesn't know is that she wants to be a part of her father's life. And she knows that the only place he can be present and actually have, like, empathy with the people around him or like, communicate that in any way is when he's directing, because then he can access it. So I think subconsciously she goes into acting because it might be a way to be close to him, but she is blinded by anger for what she's been going through in her upbringing. So she can't really get past that anger. So she struggles to talk to him, and when she gets the opportunity finally to work with him, she doesn't want to.

[A]

And that plays differently for the woman who plays your sister Agnes, because she was in one of his movies when she was little, so she did have that sort of commitment from her father.

[B]

Yeah. And I think the way she talks about it and the way I see it, too, is, is that it was such a big grief because she had never felt so seen and so taken care of. But when production stopped, it was back to normal, where she wasn't able to be with him in the same way, so she never wanted to do it again. So it's kind of mirroring each other in that sense.

[A]

Stellan Skarsgard plays your father Gustav in the film. What did he bring to that part?

[B]

Well, Joachim and Eskild, they're saying that they kept writing a director that was meaner and meaner and got worse and worse in the writing process. So they really needed to cast someone who was a nice person. So Joachim knew, and he had dreamed of working with Stellan Skarsgrd for many years, but this was kind of. He. It got more and more in the process. It was clearer and clearer that they had to cast Stellan. So he went to Sweden, had a big lunch, and Stellan talks about it like he was playing hard to get, and. And then eventually said yes when Joachim half started begging him to do the role. Yeah, but Stellan is so beautiful in the character and gives so much dynamic and gentleness to that character.

[A]

Do you find him likable in the film?

[B]

Well.

[A]

You personally.

[B]

Well, I do. I think that he's saying so many quite horrible things to his daughter and he is judging her, but so he had to play up. He had to play against those lines. And I think Stellan does that in such a beautiful way, where he plays someone who really thinks he is a good person. And he is, but he's so clumsy and he. He just doesn't know how to be good with his daughters. And you see him being a lot better version of himself with his actress that is played by Elle Fanning, Rachel Kemp. And, yeah, it's just very interesting how he built. I feel all the act actors in this movie has been given the opportunity to be really smart with their character. And. And Joachim really writes very complex or he writes complex characters, and they're so layered and has so much dynamic to them. So it's really easy to play around for us, and we were giving the space to do that.

[A]

What's a moment in the film that you think really shows us, the audience, the relationship between Nora and her father?

[B]

Actually, we have this one scene where they go out to have a cigarette, and you see them. It's no words and it's very short, but you see them being so happy together and having so Much fun. And that they admire each other. And it's so sad because it's the only place you really see them. They're quite similar, but still they. They struggle so much to communicate. So I think that scene in some way, is really kind of the love scene between them. And you see the relationship.

[A]

The opposite of the love scene is when he presents her with the script at the diner.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

What is her initial reaction to learning that he wrote this movie for her?

[B]

I think that conversation for her, the way he asks and the way he is presenting that, is kind of by criticizing all her choices so far. And even, like, he's not even criticizing because it seems like for her that he looks down on her like that he doesn't even want to discuss the parts because it's so little to him, these parts and the projects. So she feels so worthless just by him not being. Having the respect to even discuss it with her. So that's when she kind of understands that we cannot talk, we can't communicate. It won't be possible to work together. And that's kind of the root problem of the relationship she has with him. So then she just walks away without reading it at all.

[A]

I'm curious about when he brings in Elle Fanning, a famous American movie star, to play her role. The were all meant for Nora. What does Nora feel? Is it jealousy? Is it. I should have done that. I was curious what Nora was feeling.

[B]

I think it's a lot of things. I think she knows that she has said no. And she. Of course, I think on some level she must be a little jealous, but on a very deep level that she knows now that she, the actress is getting the treatment that you do when you work with him, but that she can't have that in real life. She already knows. So it's. I think it's very complex. I think she really respects Rachel Kemp and that she thinks that, I don't know, she want to kind of stay on the outside, but she. I think it's. It's very complex, all the things going through her, and she wants to, like, she wants them to have that. And she kind of knows the film will be good and her performance will be good. And she tells her that you're lucky. You're lucky to be cast with this good director. So I think Nora is a good person and she's being big in that moment, but she is, of course, jealous.

[A]

One of the things I loved in the film is when Elle Fanning dyes her hair.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And looks quite a bit like You? Yeah, that was kind of. I didn't see that coming. And I was like, wow.

[B]

I was shocked because we looked so similar when she had done that. It was. Yeah, it was. It was great because sometimes people seeing the movie for the first time, they don't really see, but suddenly they're really similar. But you can't really tell what it is the minute you see it. But, no, it's a great idea. I think Gustav is also projecting the relationship he wants with his daughters to the role, and he really wants Nora to do the character and knows that it's. It's only her that can do it. So he kind of tries to shape Rachel into his daughter. That is very funny and very sad.

[A]

My guest is Renata Reinsve. She stars in the movie Sentimental Value. The movie's in English and Norwegian. Was it written that way?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, it was.

[A]

So that was in the script. It was Joachim's choice.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah.

[A]

What is it like to go back and forth between the language for you as an actor?

[B]

Well, of course, you get a different sense of depth when you speak in your own language. But I think all the roles that I have done in English, American, I've gotten to play someone that has moved from Norway to the US So I could integrate kind of the estranged, like trying to communicate something that you have inside so you can put it into the acting and kind of make a dynamic from that. Yeah, that obstacle. So. So for me, it's been. I haven't played someone who's supposed to be American, and then you have to, of course, integrate more of the culture. But I could always be myself just struggling a bit with the words.

[A]

That's interesting because we just got a text that from someone who said, she is astounding in the worst person in the world. Can't wait to see her again.

[B]

That's so nice.

[A]

Tell me what you like about working with Joaquin Trier.

[B]

He is both really artistically talented, so he writes characters that are so interesting, and his movies are character driven, so it's always fantastic to work in that environment. He's so wise and intelligent in the way he structures his movies and his scenes and the way he casts. So it's such a pool of just artistic joy working with him. But he's also a really good leader, so he knows how to run a production and we feel really safe and we can go really far because the way he gives time to everyone working, and he's really good at involving everyone and get everyone very emotionally attached to his vision. So the crew and the Cast members are really, like, integrated. And we feel like a collective trying to make something. It's never about us. It's about the project. It's about the scene. It's about something. And then it's really easy when you don't have the responsibility of kind of making something good. You just try to find it there and then. And then it also gets really authentic and raw, I think.

[A]

When on this film was Joaquin Trier a good leader?

[B]

Every single day. So even from the beginning, like, the way he structures his production from the beginning, it's so extremely. He goes into every single detail. So then you're so prepared. Everyone. Every department is so prepared. So you can go really fast, and you don't spill energy on something that hasn't been made a decision off. Everyone knows what they're doing. And then you are actually get to be very flexible in that, because everyone's so on point with what they know that they're gonna do. We have an ideal version of the scene. Everyone has that in the whole crew, the whole cast. But because it's so structured, we can be really flexible with improvising. And then it doesn't feel like only the actors are improvising. The whole room is improvising together. So it really feels like a collective.

[A]

It sounds like a musician, like jazz. Like, they know all of the scales and all of the musical theory. And then you can go around the edges and make it look different and sound different.

[B]

He actually talks so much about jazz. He's very into jazz, and he even calls some takes jazz takes. And he really wants his movies to be like an album that you want to listen to again and again. And the scenes are like beats. It's like it has a rhythm to it. So for him, the musicality of it is really important. And that also, like, transfers onto something, like the way we work together. So you're very right about that.

[A]

In this film, it's also about sisters and their relationships. Nora and her sister Agnes have very different way of approaching their father.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How would you describe how each of them navigate their relationship with Gustav?

[B]

Well, it's so interesting. I think it's so relatable how siblings can grow up in the same home and then have a totally different experience of that home. And. And their parents, too, because. And I think that that's so beautiful with these two characters that they don't really know why, but they've led so different lives. And then there is this one pivotal scene in the movie where they kind of realize what they've been to each other and why they have made such different choices. Because Agnes, the younger sister, always had Nora, the character I play, to protect her from that aggressive home and all the kind of bad dynamics that happened in there. And then Nora on that side, having to carry that when she goes out of the house and lives her own life, she struggles to make healthy choices for herself and be in healthy relationships because she was in fight or flight her whole upbringing. So. So then she's so dependent on her sister Agnes, that has now kind of switched roles and become her protector. And they kind of realize that throughout the movie.

[A]

I won't give it away, but we learn that Nora has mental health issues in this film, but she refuses to go to therapy. Why won't she go to therapy?

[B]

I think she's really scared of. Of what she'll find. And I think if you have this feeling of any time, this could just, like, fall apart if I dig into it just a little bit. And that's why she's so scared of going on stage and panics when she goes on stage, because if she gets in there too deep, it might just all fall apart. And. And I think the only really, safety she has is. Is her sister. But I. Yeah, I think she absolutely should talk to someone, and she deserves that. But I understand also the fear of going into those topics and going into that, because it's really hard work once you go into that.

[A]

A good chunk of the movie focuses on the rehearsal process for a film. As Gustav starts to embark on it with Rachel. What was your own rehearsal process like?

[B]

So Joachim has very specific rehearsal process. Like, he. He will go in, and it's not that you have to nail a scene or find the ideal version there in the room, but you start talking about things. You test some things out, and then when you get to a point where almost kind of a problem is solved, then you stop and you go out of the room. And then you. You don't talk about it more. You just let it kind of sink in, so it becomes a part of your subconscious that way. And we get to know each other really well as actors and as people in there, because we share a lot of personal things in the room. And so that the movie kind of becomes very personal to us. And he films the rehearsals so that he can alter the script together with Eskild Vogt.

[A]

Oh, that's interesting.

[B]

Yeah. So it's the dynamic that occurs between actors on rehearsals. He will alter the script to match that dynamic and also, like, match what comes from us, truthfully. So it really feels like we're a big part of creating it in the last parts and what happens on set is then you have so much ownership to it because of that process.

[A]

That's wonderful that you really feel like you have ownership of your film.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Everybody involved.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, we do. Even though it's, it's like very. We, we all think are actors that love following a director's vision and can be free in that space. But it is fantastic to yeah. Feel that ownership.

[A]

The movie at sometimes is very, very sad. But there's also a lot of hope in the film. What do you find hopeful about the film?

[B]

Well then I can't talk about the last scene. No, you cannot. No. But that is very hopeful and it's not a. I love that the movie not necessarily comes to some like a beautiful ending where it's. Everything is solved. But there is so much hope in the complexity of how it ends and how those relationships are seen in the end of the movie. But I don't want to say what it is, but it's very helpful.

[A]

My guest has been actor Renata Rinesve. She stars in the new movie Sentimental Value. It's in theaters now. Thank you for making the time to come talk to us.

[B]

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