Directed by:
Joachim TrierCinematography:
Kasper TuxenComposer:
Ola FløttumCast:
Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum, Maria Grazia Di Meo, Hans Olav Brenner, Deniz Kaya, Vidar Sandem, Olav Stubberud, Gisle Tveito (more)Plots(1)
The chronicles of four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is. (Criterion)
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Reviews (10)
Considering how Aerofilms is cramming this film through every orifice (I've seen its trailer a good fifteen times) and is clearly trying to patch up two years of COVID losses with it, I automatically went to see it already in an oppositional mindset. And thus began our fantastic mutual war that lasted until the very end. One of my first attacks was the accusation that it’s all well and good to build up an independent and idiosyncratic heroine when the film assigns her to such an idiotic and one-dimensional male character. Except that when it lets the characters talk about something other than relationships for a while, suddenly they're not so dumb and they actually drop some pretty interesting details. But what if these passages too are describing some classic male cliché, which I don't realize because I AM the cliché? And then there were those moments when I resisted jumping in on any of the suggested topics because I feared I was walking into a trap. A couple of times this proved justified, and yet I still occasionally fell for the traditional audience feel-good cliché "She's literally me!" (definitely in the scene where the heroine wanders around town, squeezing herself into someone else's party, where she’s advising others "from a medical position" on how to raise their children with two semesters of medicine under her belt), only to laugh at the film afterwards about how it has to help itself with a cancer plot. But that is suddenly the strongest passage, with a real palpable presence of finality, and it made me think of Verhoeven's Turkish Delight. By the end of the battle, I had almost acknowledged my full surrender before the film finally couldn't help itself and had to demonstrate that theme of female independence through the dilemma of having/not having a child and I was terribly annoyed by the last shot because who the fuck puts a monitor right next to the stove?! So the win goes to Trier, however in boardgame terms he didn't make it to Major Victory in the end but only to Minor. But I worked up a sweat.
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So, what did I just watch? A romance or more of a psychological portrait of the main character? Probably a mix of both, but the truth is, after the first fifteen minutes, I was tempted to call it quits because I found myself somewhat bored. However, I stuck with it, and to my surprise, the film remained watchable despite its consistently slow pace. It didn't blow me away, but it wasn't dumb either, and I can comfortably agree with many of the ideas it presented. The overly drawn-out runtime is a major drawback, though, so I'll settle on a generous three stars. / Lesson learned: Take a moment to think before you judge someone.
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Despite its title, The Worst Person in the World is a good-hearted and forgiving romantic drama about finding your way in life, finding yourself, and discovering everyone around you. Although I was initially concerned about the long running time, the two hours spent in the company of the movie’s endearing characters just flew by quite nicely. Despite that, however, I wish the ending of the whole narrative was a lot more gripping. [KVIFF 2021]
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A prologue, twelve chapters and an epilogue in the life of the almost thirty-year-old Julia, who is searching for her place in life and trying to come to terms with herself, her emotions and her romantic relationships. This relatively successful attempt at a generational statement, which also attempts to touch on several other serious issues, is captivating with its electrifying directing and likable humor, in addition to the natural performances of the actors playing the three main characters. The smartly written dialogue occasionally comes across as being slightly too clever and the narrative falls apart a bit not only because of its division into chapters, but also because of excessive flitting between the individual motifs, especially towards the end. Therefore, the film is strongest in several very effective and bold details and passages, such as the one with the innocent spark verging on infidelity at a party, the scene of spending a day with the love of a lifetime in a city temporarily frozen in suspended animation, and the one with tripping on mushrooms. The intended poignancy at the end doesn’t happen and the film’s two-hour runtime may be too long due to the slowly waning pace, but even so, spending those two hours with The Worst Person in the World is a pleasant and rewarding experience.
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