WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

The Worst Person in the World

Verdens verste menneske
Directed by Joachim Trier
Norway | 2021 | Narrative
127 minutes | Norwegian

The third film (with “Reprise” and “Oslo, August 31st”) in Joachim Trier’s unofficial Oslo trilogy, the comic drama “The Worst Person in the World” explores love in our complicated time — when someone can receive all of life’s opportunities but still feel like the worst person in the world. Julie is turning 30, and her life is an existential mess. Several of her talents have gone to waste and her older boyfriend, Aksel — a successful graphic novelist — is pushing for them to settle down. One night, she gatecrashes a party and meets the young and charming Eivind. Before long, she has broken up with Aksel and thrown herself into yet another new relationship, hoping for a new perspective on her life. But she will come to realize that some life choices are already behind her. Time Out writes: “Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve is the heart and soul of this touching and inventive account of one millennial life that unfolds over several years in Oslo and feels like it’s capturing the heartbeat of a city as well as honouring the rhythms and rituals of a generation. It’s full of playful filmmaking, from a young woman running through a city where everyone else is frozen in time, to a visual freakout when the same woman and her pals knock back a truckload of magic mushrooms. ‘The Worst Person’ is busy and bursting with recognisable experience. Any film that can combine questions of mortality with funny, fully alive scenes of sex, social awkwardness, professional screw-ups and throwaway fun is a rich one. Its brilliant, full-on performance from Reinsve deserves to be celebrated far and wide.”