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When You're An Actor, No One Can Stop You From Doing It: Stellan Skarsgård at the Presentation of Sentimental Value

Sofía Alvarado

Stellan Skarsgård presented Sentimental Value (2025), by acclaimed Danish-Norwegian director Joachim Trier, as part of the 23rd edition of the Morelia International Film Festival (FICM). Introduced by Daniela Michel, the actor gave a press conference at the Rubén Romero Theater.

In conversation with critic Alonso Díaz de la Vega, Skarsgård described his role in the film as one of the most important of his career: “I recognize myself a little bit in this character.”

The film captures family conflict through the story of two sisters, Nora and Agnes, who, after the death of their mother, reunite with their father, Gustav. Someone they have a complicated relationship with.

In response to questions from the press, the actor said: “When I'm on set, I feel at home, and that's where I want to be.” He also pointed out that when making an art film, the director is the film, and if he doesn't have a clear vision, it has no value.

“This film shows several complicated relationships; it investigates them, analyzes them, observes them, and doesn't provide a solution because there's no closure. That doesn't exist in this life,” said Skarsgård.

He later added that “it's a very happy coincidence when good people come together to do something fantastic. When you're an actor, you can't stop acting, no one can stop you from doing it. You can play Hamlet on a street corner. I wouldn't say you can have a dream role, but you can have a dream project.”

Towards the end of the conference, speaking about the current state of world cinema, he said that he believed “we now have to be brave and reinvent cinema.”

Stellan Skarsgård has been recognized at the Golden Globes and the Berlin Film Festival. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with directors such as Lars von Trier, with whom he worked on Breaking the Waves (1996), Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2003), Melancholia (2011), and Nymphomaniac, as well as Hans Petter Moland, who directed him in Zero Kelvin (1995), Aberdeen (2000), A Somewhat Gentle Man (2010), and In Order of Disappearance (2014).

Sentimental Value premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize.