"Sentimental Value" star Renate Reinsve poses for a portrait in New York on Nov. 10.
Nora's struggle with mental health is "so universal," Renate Reinsve says. "I felt a responsibility to take it very seriously."
Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård, left) and Nora (Renate Reinsve) tiptoe around their feelings and desire to be seen by one another.
"For me, the movie is about how you can be so blinded by your own experience that you don't see other people's version," Renate Reinsve says.
Renate Reinsve says it was "more playful" inhabiting Julie in "The Worst Person in the World," but "I can also really recognize what Nora is going through."
"Sentimental Value" star Renate Reinsve poses for a portrait in New York.

NEW YORK − For Renate Reinsve, the spotlight can be a little hard to stomach.

The Norwegian newcomer broke through in Joachim Trier’s 2021 romantic dramedy “The Worst Person in the World,” winning best actress at Cannes Film Festival for her tour de force as Julie, a flailing twentysomething navigating sex, drugs, career and relationships. It was her first time leading a movie, and the unbridled character was both raw and exposing.

“I felt so stupid and ugly, like I was being too honest. I didn’t know how people were going to take it,” Reinsve recalls with a grin, eating a croissant while doing a crossword on a recent morning. “Then all the reviews came out and people related so much to what I felt was so shameful. I just started puking, it was so overwhelming!”

All eyes are once again on Reinsve with “Sentimental Value” (in theaters now), a quietly devastating family drama that Oscar pundits unanimously predict will earn her a best actress nomination. Co-written and directed by Trier, the movie follows a lonely theater actress named Nora (Reinsve), whose estranged filmmaker father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), asks her to star in a deeply personal new project.

Nora is more emotionally guarded than Julie of "Worst Person," and carries deep resentment and hurt from childhood wounds. We gradually learn that Nora has long struggled with depression, as she withdraws further from Gustav and her protective younger sister, Agnes (Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas). For Reinsve, 38, it was vital to capture the physicality and detachment of someone retreating inward.

“I’ve seen a lot of very big, expressive performances of characters struggling with mental health, and I was scared going in another direction, like, ‘What if this is too invisible?’ ” Reinsve says. “She’s trying all the time to hide. She’ll get attention away from her by being silly, and then she’ll get so far into the depression that everything is just shut down.”

“Sentimental Value” marks Reinsve’s third film with Trier after a bit role in 2011’s “Oslo, August 31st.” She jokes that they “bring out the melancholy” in one another, and much of this movie was born from their conversations.

“I feel very safe with Renate,” Trier says. “She has a very special energy in front of the camera that's quite unique. We were discovering it as we went along and that's a sign of trust.”

'Sentimental Value' star Renate Reinsve nearly quit acting for woodworking

“Sentimental Value” explores the discomfort of what’s left unsaid between parents and their grown kids – themes that couldn’t be more resonant during the holiday season.

“You go back to your family to celebrate and it's like you magically become 14 again,” Reinsve says. “But until you’ve had that conversation where you set boundaries and say, ‘This is me now,’ it will stay the same.”

It’s an idea that the amiable actress understands well. She was raised in a remote forest village outside Oslo. While her family worked in her grandfather’s hardware store, she was off making short films with her friends: “We had this morning news show and we’d play all the weird people from where I grew up,” Reinsve says, laughing.

She was “really shy” and “existential," yet she also had a rebellious streak. By 16, she was kicked out of school and then her home for being a wayward student, and she ran away to Edinburgh, Scotland, in part because “it was the cheapest ticket” she could find.

“I just went around the streets trying to get a job,” Reinsve recalls. “Eventually, the hostel felt so sorry for me that they hired me.”

She worked the front desk and the bar, “partying and having a lot of fun” as she also made inroads into the city’s famed Fringe performing arts scene. After two years, she moved back to Norway to study acting and do theater, even as she grew frustrated by the “superficial” TV and film roles she was offered. Before “Worst Person” came along, she considered quitting acting to focus on the family carpentry trade.

“I’ve now renovated two houses, although I've realized I’m not very good at it,” Reinsve acknowledges, smiling. But with hindsight, she sees parallels between “Sentimental Value” and her own longing for approval.

“Subconsciously, Nora becomes an actor to be closer to her dad, even though they can’t really understand each other,” she says. “Acting was very alien to my family because it was so different from what they did, working in that hardware store. So I think subconsciously, I wanted to make them proud in a way they could understand.”

The 'profound' experience of taking her family to Cannes Film Festival

Reinsve says she was “offered a lot of romantic comedies” after “Worst Person,” but "I didn’t think any of those things were good enough, and I also didn’t want to do something commercial right after.” Instead, she’s primarily focused on indie dark comedies (“A Different Man”) and sci-fi horror films (“The Backrooms”).

She was originally cast in the Julia Garner role in “Weapons,” but was forced to drop out amid scheduling conflicts. (“That was, of course, sad. I still haven’t seen it, but I’m going to.”)

When she’s not working, “hanging out with my son is my favorite activity,” Reinsve says. “That’s what brings me the most joy. It’s funny, I’m working so much in English and then hanging out with my 6-year-old in Norwegian. So my Norwegian is getting worse while my English is getting better – I’m between two languages!”

Right now, the actress is trying to squeeze in rest where she can while promoting “Sentimental Value," and she’s pleased that audiences are responding to it on such a personal level. The movie has even helped bring her family closer, as they joined her at the Cannes Film Festival premiere in May.

“That was really profound,” Reinsve says. Career-wise, “they could see how big this thing has gotten that I’ve always wanted to do. Coming from such a small place in Norway, it shouldn’t be possible. But I think for them, getting to be a part of it and see what it was – some pieces of the puzzle fell into place.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Renate Reinsve nearly became a carpenter. Now she's Oscar-bound.

Reporting by Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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