The great self-aware drama of the year has the wonderful Stellan Skarsgård

In the early stages of Emotional valueWe see Nora (Renate Rensef) having a meltdown as she prepares to go on stage to perform Seagull By Chekhov. It’s a haunting, nervously shot scene that excites and centers the film’s story. Joachim Trier In investigating the mysterious relationships between life and art or artistic creation.

The character goes into a panic mode, tears up her wardrobe, tries to get her co-star and lover to kiss her first (or something) and then tries to get him to slap her, which he ends up agreeing to, running backstage, running away from the crew… Finally they manage to throw her on stage and everything ends up working out, though. There is no catharsis or healing. Everything will still be bad for Nora.

She’s the daughter of Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), a film director who’s having his moment as a sensitive, brilliant director, but who’s been closer to an outcast than anything else in two decades. As a father he is a disaster. He abandoned Nora and Agnes, his other daughter, when they were little girls, leaving them with their mother, and He was never able to show any emotion or care towards them.

But now Gustave has written a text that is autobiographical in nature and wants (or needs to get financing?) for his daughter to perform it. What’s more, he wrote to her and told her. Nora refuses because she realizes that they cannot communicate.

But fate will bring Gustave to one of the most powerful actresses in Hollywood, played by Elle Fanning in the film. They meet at a festival, and she is attending a screening of one of Gustav’s old films, a film whose events take place in World War II. She falls in love with the genius of the old director, who is seductive by nature. and The star agrees to work in his new movie.

The film was to be shot in the old family home (which stars in the film’s original and exciting premise Emotional value), where all family conflicts and traumas will emerge. The Trier, fade to black, Constantly changing point of viewHe tries to find the essence of his complex characters, which he listens to carefully.

In this commitment we see the legacy of Bergman, of whom Trier strives to be an outstanding student, trying to find with the camera the mystery of the creatures he puts on stage. Skarsgård and Reinsve make it easy for you. Above allSkarsgård, with a performance that stays on the retinaEspecially in those moments when we see defeat in his crystalline gaze. The actor’s talent managed to humanize what could have simply been a selfish monster.

Director quotes person (Igmar Bergman, 1966) In that moment when the faces of father and daughter blend, although we can also trace Hitchcock’s face vertigo (1958) in Gustave’s attempt to transform Fanning’s character into his daughter.

These references It might lead us to believe that Trier is trying too hard to create this year’s prestige drama (Yes, there is something pretentious about the director’s bet.) Furthermore, there are some digressions on or around theater versus cinema My neighbor They may make shots too long.

but Emotional value Finally, it stands out as an intense and emotional film that, in addition, has the elegance of not trying to reveal or resolve the mysteries and traumas hidden by the characters, which, at the same time, Avoid any unnecessarily dark diversions.