Norway's Historic Night
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value won Best International Feature Film, giving Norway its first Oscar in the category. The film also received eight additional nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and three acting nominations.
The Competition
| Nominee | Country | RT | IMDb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sentimental Value (WINNER) | Norway | 96% | 7.8 |
| The Secret Agent | Brazil | 98% | 7.3 |
| It Was Just an Accident | France | -- | -- |
| Sirt | Spain | -- | -- |
| The Voice of Hind Rajab | Tunisia | -- | -- |
The Film
Written by Trier and frequent collaborator Eskil Vogt, Sentimental Value explores the strained relationship between a director father (Stellan Skarsgard) who has prioritized career over family and his estranged daughters (Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas), with Elle Fanning and Anders Danielsen Lie in key roles.
The film won the Grand Prix at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, the second-highest prize. It grossed $22M worldwide, on track to become the highest-grossing Norwegian-language film of all time, surpassing Kon-Tiki.
Nine Nominations
Sentimental Value's nine nominations are remarkable for a non-English-language film. The breakdown:
- Best Picture
- Best Director (Trier)
- Best Original Screenplay (Trier & Vogt)
- Best Supporting Actor (Skarsgard)
- Best Supporting Actress (Fanning AND Lilleaas, two nominations)
- Best International Feature Film
- Best Film Editing
- Best Sound
It won only the International Feature category, losing the other eight. This makes it the most-nominated zero-win film outside International Feature since The Irishman (10 nominations, 0 wins).
The Secret Agent Upset
Kleber Mendonca Filho's The Secret Agent (Brazil) had a 98% RT score, won Best Actor and Best Director at Cannes, and was the critics' trifecta winner. By pure critical metrics, it had the edge. But Sentimental Value's broader Academy presence (9 nominations vs. The Secret Agent's more modest haul) gave it institutional momentum.
Data Verdict
The 96% RT score and 7.8 IMDb are both excellent. The nine total nominations made this film the most Academy-visible international contender, which historically correlates with a win. The Secret Agent's 98% RT was higher, but with only $4.6M worldwide, it lacked commercial footprint. Sentimental Value's combination of Cannes pedigree, broad Academy presence, and commercial success (for a foreign-language film) made it the data-favored winner.