Few filmmakers are as attuned as Joachim Trier to the inner lives of young people. In superb movies like Reprise , Oslo, August 31st and The Worst Person in the World , he has probed the artistic dreams and frustrated desires of characters trying, and often failing, to figure out who they are. Trier's thoughtfulness is apparent even in his more middling films, like the Jesse Eisenberg drama Louder Than Bombs and the supernatural thriller Thelma , both of which were keyed into the profound ways our families can mess us up.

Complicated parent-child relationships are also at the heart of Sentimental Value , a new drama that many have hailed as Trier's best movie to date. But I've seen the film twice now, and although it's thoughtfully crafted and well acted, it stri

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