Definitely on my Best of 2025 list! This Norwegian family drama from Joachim Trier (The Worst Person in the World) revolves around the fractured relationship an estranged father has with his two grown daughters. The father Gustav is played by Stellan Skarsgård in a career best performance. He’s an aging film director of some repute who has come to Oslo with a script he wants his eldest daughter Nora (Renate Reinsve) to star in. She is an acclaimed theater actress, but she’s not interested in reconnecting with him or doing his film.
The mother of the family has just died and Gustav arrives at the funeral with his script in hand. Nora agrees to meet him for lunch where he clumsily tries to convince her that film is somehow better for her career than theater. It falls on deaf ears and she walks out on him. After Nora refuses his offer, Gustav heads off to the Deauville Film Festival where one of his early films is showing, in which he cast his younger daughter Agnes in a key role. There he meets international star and fan Rachel Kemp (Elle Fanning) and casts her as his lead, bringing her back to the family’s house that he still owns to rehearse and shoot the film.
Dad’s reappearance throws both daughters off. Nora is already somewhat emotionally fragile, as we see in her first scene at the theater where she has such crippling stage fright that she comes close to cancelling the performance. Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas) is less fragile, having had a different relationship with Gustav and an older sister who took care of her, but she’s still reluctant to welcome him back with open arms, especially since the family house was where she and her husband and son Erik (Øyvind Hesjedal Loven) were living before Gustav arrived.
The film Gustav is making is about his mother who was tortured by the Nazis and committed suicide when he was just a boy in that family home. Perhaps that explains his emotional distance or why he wants his daughter to play the role as a way to connect with her. He is truly ham-handed though at most of his encounters with his daughters, and initially they don’t really give him the space to fail. But the film is ultimately about how family history and pain turn into armor, but also how despite our best efforts forgiveness is possible.
What is remarkable about the film is how easily it stays away from melodrama. The feelings of the characters are so relatable and the moments between parent and siblings amazingly real. There are also some very funny, telling moments, especially around Gustav and his total lack of awareness about himself. It is really a beautiful film, with great acting all around and an extremely well-written script. And I highly recommend it to all adult audiences.
In limited release.
In Norwegian and English with subtitles.
It’s the official submission of Norway for the ‘Best International Feature Film’ category of the 98th Academy Awards in 2026.