SENTIMENTAL VALUE PRODUCTION
KEEPING IT SIMPLE Some conversations were lit with just a single practical, which was easy on set but required careful pre- production prep to choose the right one
CITY SYMPHONY The film’s establishing shot of Oslo was not scripted. “We had staging in Nora’s neighbour’s apartment, and one lunch Joachim was looking out of the window and got his idea for a slow pan over the city below,” says Tuxen. “We set it up and shot it in a few different speeds. It works well because it’s almost the same view as when we enter what we call ‘the Nora montage’, when we get into her head after she sends her lover away. It brings your memory back to that – that’s the beautiful opportunist Joachim is.” Tuxen has enjoyed watching all Trier’s films and getting to see how he has aged and matured as a filmmaker. “His films were never flashy, but they were playful in a different way than I think Sentimental Value is,” he concludes. “He’s 50 now, and this film is about family. I feel that there is more of a trust in simplicity. When it comes to our process, he is very good at leaving what we just did behind, being present and thinking ahead. That’s what he has taught me on both films I’ve shot with him. Whenever I feel like I’ve messed up, he says: ‘We’ll deal with it in the edit, but right now I just need you to leave it behind you.’”
France, for the beach sequence in which Gustav meets actress Rachel Kemp. Lighting the beach proved to be a challenge for Tuxen. “We had never been in such a vast space with barely any existing lights,” he says. “It is a very wide beach and the only light sources were coming from those little changing rooms that you see.” Tuxen admits there have been a few times in his career when he has felt forced to do a moonlit scenario. But he decided against it for Sentimental Value , because he does not like how it takes you out of reality. “We shot very long exposures and brought some battery- operated lights so we could add stronger lights on the roof of that whole stretch of boardwalk and then extend that with softer units.” Tuxen points to key conversations that were lit with just a single practical. “Something Joachim was adamant about was finding a practical that’s right for the interior but also gives bright light for the conversation,” he says. “We used practicals for the wake when the two sisters sit down and talk about how it’s hard to talk to their dad, when Gustav’s old producer friend Michael tells him to
do this film and lastly when Rachel Kemp comes to the house to inform Gustav she can’t be in the film. Those three scenes were led by only one practical each, which was easy to handle on the day.” Tuxen acknowledges that some of the lighting scenarios were difficult, but wants to give credit to his gaffer Levi Gawrock Trøite and best girl Lisa Emilie Øverjordet for their work. “I underestimated the fact that the house had 13 windows,” he adds. “We had to move through many rooms for lots of the sequences, which meant we had lots of windows to control.” One sequence was particularly challenging to navigate lighting-wise due to actors’ schedules. “The two parts of the summertime sequence – when Nora arrives and speaks with her sister about the red vase, and when Gustav suddenly shows up with Rachel Kemp – were shot months apart because of Fanning’s schedule,” explains Tuxen. “We shot the sisters’ part in actual summer and then Fanning’s part just before fall, so we had to light it artificially with sunlight. It was way more complicated than the scenes lit by just one practical, but I love that the film has room for both very simple and more complex lighting.”
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DEFINITIONMAGS
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