Josh Reviews The Worst Person in the World

The Norwegian film The Worst Person in the World focuses on Julie (Renate Reinsve), a young woman who, when we first meet her, is living in Oslo and going to medical school.  As the film unfolds, we follow Julie through several different career paths and romantic relationships, as she seeks to find herself and a direction for her life.  The film was directed by Joachim Trier, who also co-wrote the script with Eskil Vogt.  The film was nominated for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay at this year’s Oscars, so I was interested in taking a look.

The film has an unusual, episodic structure, as it is presented in twelve chapters, plus a prologue and an epilogue.  I was surprised at first by this approach, but as I watched the film I found myself quite taken by this strange way to structure a movie.  It gives the film a unique identity, and the chapters help to give a shape and forward momentum to the different vignettes in Julie’s life that we were getting to see.

Renate Reinsve plays Julie, and she is wonderful in the leading role.  Julie makes a number of, well, lets say poorly-conceived choices in the film.  This could very easily be a completely unlikable, frustrating character.  But Ms. Reinsve makes Julie so delightful to watch that it’s a pleasure following her on her (mis)adventures in the film. Anders Danielsen Lie and Herbert Nordrum are both great as Aksel and Eivind, the two main men we see in Julie’s life.

I’d heard this film described as a comedy/drama, though for me I found it far more of a drama than a comedy.  There were some amusing moments, but this wasn’t a laugh-out-loud film for me.  In fact, it was often awkward and somewhat painful.  But it worked for me and I found myself quite taken by the story.  I thought the film’s strengths were in presenting Julie as a real, three-dimensional human being.  She’s young and she often seems foolish or indecisive or even, at times, somewhat self-destructive.  But there isn’t too much exaggeration for comedic effect as is often found in movies.  The film stayed grounded, which I appreciated.

There were a number of moments in which I found the film to be very bizarre.  I was surprised by many of the choices the filmmakers made, that’s for sure!  But I quite like that about the film.

I’ll also mention that there’s a sexual frankness to the film — both in some of the language as well as a few moments of nudity — that distinguished it, for me, from how an American film of this type might unfold.  Those moments raised my eyebrows, but didn’t distract from my enjoyment of the film.  I appreciated the many ways in which the film felt like a unique vision and a specific story, as opposed to a movie that felt the need to check all of then broad “four quadrant” Hollywood boxes.

This strange and unusual film was filled with memorable moments and sequences that have stuck with me: Julie and Eivind’s first “not cheating” night together after she crashes a wedding where he’s a guest; the moment in which time seems to stop while Julie runs across town; Julie’s wild trip while on mushrooms; and so many more.

Part character drama, part coming of age story, part romantic comedy, The Worst Person in the World is a joyously unique and weird journey of a film.  I’m glad to have seen it.

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