“When I grew up in it, no one cared about [it],” Trier told us. “And slowly, it’s become bigger, and I’m grateful if I in any way contributed to showing its nicer aspects, which I think happens automatically when you create human stories that people identify with and put characters in these places where you’ve had your own emotional experiences. It’s a big and small city at the same time – not as elegant as Stockholm, or as culturally vibrant as Copenhagen. Oslo is more discreet.”
In a New Yorker profile on Trier, writer Margaret Talbot muses that “There is something wistfully summery about Sentimental Value, as there is in nearly all of Trier’s movies – a sweet but sharp longing that feels tied to the northern light and its long, seductive fade.”
On the small screen, Troll is currently Netflix’s most popular non-English film ever. The film, shot across the rural towns and villages of Norway, generated over 100 million views within the first 90 days of release.
Further south, the enduring allure of Italy is as prevalent as ever. On the small screen, shows like The White Lotus, shot entirely in Sicily, became “a driving force behind a surge in international tourists, particularly from the UK and the US, in the region”, says The Italian Government Tourist Board.
There’s something incredibly enticing about a yet uncovered European destination. South African filmmaker Oliver Hermanus recognised this when filming his latest release, The History of Sound, in which he used a small, little-known town to shoot key scenes. “Josh O’Connor had shot La Chimera in the town of Tarquinia, just outside of Rome,” Oliver tells Condé Nast Traveller. “So that was how we came to know it. It’s amazing how two different films were shot in the exact same town, but La Chimera is a different period and a totally different feeling.”
