Sentimental Value: parents' guide
Best for ages 15 and up. Rated R for some language including a sexual reference, and brief nudity.
A slow, adult family drama best suited to older teens who enjoy character-driven films. Two Norwegian sisters reconnect with their estranged filmmaker father after their mother dies, and his new script about his own mother's suicide reopens old wounds. Suicide sits at the center of the story, with a flashback that conveys a hanging through sound and references to a past attempt by one sister. There are bedroom scenes after sex, a brief glimpse of a bare breast, seven f-words by one count, and lots of drinking and smoking. Nothing is graphic, but the grief and suicide theme suit viewers about 15 and up.
What's in it
Violence
ModerateAlmost no physical violence. A flashback shows a woman's suicide by hanging, conveyed mainly through the sound of a falling stool, and records describe a wartime prisoner tortured with clamps and a hot stove. An anxious actress asks a colleague to slap her.
Language
StrongPlugged In counted seven f-words, including a sexual use, and three s-words, plus 'crap,' 'damn,' 'hell,' misuse of God's and Jesus' names and a middle-finger gesture. Most dialogue is Norwegian with English subtitles.
Sex and nudity
ModerateAn actress has an affair with a married colleague; they kiss and are shown in bed after sex, with part of her body bare. A flashback to a party at the family home years earlier briefly shows a woman's bare breast, and two women kiss.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateCigarettes and wine are everywhere. The father drinks heavily after setbacks, passes out on a couch, and after one binge is found collapsed on his lawn and taken to the hospital. Other adults toast with champagne and whiskey.
Scary or intense scenes
ModerateNo horror, but heavy emotional material: a suicide shown in flashback, a sister's past suicide attempt, a funeral, children upset by their parents' fights, and written accounts of wartime torture with photos.
Sensitive topics
- Suicide
- Death of a parent
Worth talking about
The father turns his family's real pain into a movie. Ask your teen whether making art from someone else's trauma can help heal it, or whether it takes something from the people who lived it.
On our lists
Similar picks around 15+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, Plugged In, bbfc.co.uk, Wikipedia, the MPA. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.