Director Joachim Trier, a Norwegian filmmaker renowned for crafting emotionally resonant Scandinavian cinema, was awarded the Grand Prix, the second-highest prize, at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.
His latest work, “Sentimental Value,” a poignant narrative exploring a quietly fractured Norwegian family and starring Elle Fanning, garnered an extraordinary 19-minute standing ovation following its Cannes premiere in the early hours of Thursday morning. Trier himself confessed to shedding tears behind the camera during filming.
“It sounds cheesy, but I wept a lot making this film because I was so moved by the actors,” he told AFP, referring to his cast who portray members of an artistic Oslo family struggling with communication. “The actors are my friends. I know that they were being halfway a character and halfway themselves. And that they were also dealing with stuff,” added the director, known for his ability to elicit profound performances.
Trier’s previous film, “The Worst Person in the World,” earned him two Oscar nominations and secured then-newcomer Renate Reinsve the Best Actress award at Cannes in 2021. Many critics believed that film should have won the coveted Palme d’Or, and some anticipated Trier would claim the top prize again this year, with “Sentimental Value” being hailed as a contender for best film of the year.
“I think it was my destiny to win the Grand Prix,” a rueful Trier quipped to reporters after receiving the award, a playful reference to a fictional director in his film who also won the same prize in 1998. “I am almost as good as him now,” he joked.
Elle Fanning, whose attention was drawn to Trier by “The Worst Person in the World,” described that film as “easily one of the best films in the last decade or even longer. It is just perfect,” she told AFP. “The Worst Person in the World” completed his “Oslo Trilogy,” a series of intelligent, bittersweet explorations of life in the Norwegian capital.
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