Spoiler Warning: This discussion contains some spoilers. It could be an entire gag from a comedy or in-depth conversation concerning events in the second act.
"I always worried something would go wrong, but the things that went wrong were never what I worried about."
The UK theatrical run of The Worst Person in the World comes about just after its successful Oscar campaign (it isn’t every day you see a foreign language film get nominated outside of that category), and I couldn’t have been more desperate to see it. Despite not seeing Joachim Trier’s other two installations in the Oslo thematic trilogy, everything about this seemed right up my alley.
Lo and behold, The Worst Person in the World may well be the best thing I’ve seen in theatres since C’mon C’mon. I absolutely adore its central character, Renate Reinsve’s Julie, who becomes so intricately connected to the audience that both her good and maligned decisions spark a reaction out of you. It’s one of the most astonishing performances of the twenty-first century in my eyes; her lost expressions and flailing trust over the course of the film’s four-year timespan permeate the air between your eye and the screen. Anders Danielsen Lie and Herbert Nordrum, who star opposite Reinsve, also deliver memorable, brilliant, delicate performances for characters that you yearn to know more about.
Trier’s direction is gorgeous, with so many of his shots still ringing in my head – from its opening landscape stunner placing Reinsve at its very centre to the stained-glass-window perspectives; it is a beautiful movie. I wish I could experience Julie’s time-stopping sprint from her kitchen to the town centre as she passes stationary bodies for the first time again already. There’s a healthy serving of black comedy amongst its tough-love romantic centre that feels so chillingly modernist, ranging from nostalgic to contemporary. It captures the confusing struggle of desire, living in a time where you don’t know what’s best for you or the next generation you could be bringing into this world so perfectly I cannot put it into words.
The Worst Person in the World is one of the best screenplays I’ve seen in years, managing to balance youthful joy, big life choices, haircuts, music phases, relationships that make up your life in a way that I have never seen before. It’s one of the most unique films I have ever seen. I would genuinely love to see it again, not only to have my eyes dance before its magnificent cinematography but to go through Julie’s experiences again as though some of them were my own.
Connor Clarke Film 