Crying in the cinema has something wonderfully liberating about it. At first, it may feel cheesy to let the tears flow collectively, but at some point a healing process begins. In Joachim Trier’s family drama Sentimental Value, sobs echoed countless times from the back row to the screen. And even weeks later, thanks to Hania Rani’s soundtrack, one relives those emotions once more in the living room at home.
Recorded in the iconic Abbey Road Studios and in the original film location of the family home in Oslo, the ten piano pieces tell the moving story of its fractured figures in a tender and unpathetic way. While music and characters almost merge in the film, the compositions named after the protagonists call up clear memories of them on repeated listening.
In »Agnes«, for instance, the piano approaches quietly and tentatively, like the calmer of the two sisters, allowing individual notes to linger longer. The accented chords and reflective pauses in »Nora«, meanwhile, mirror the fragility and ambivalence of the actor struggling with stage fright. As the album’s closing piece, the track dedicated to her feels like a reconciliation with their shared father Gustav, who unintentionally carries a trauma across generations. This dark past becomes audible through unsettling, ethereal sounds that pass through the stereo like an icy wind.
