"The Worst Person in the World" review — Trier's flawless, honest comedy shines as 2021's best film
“You are a very good person.”
This film is featured in my Best Films of 2021 list and in my coverage of the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival.
The quarter-life crisis: it seems to happen to everyone. Perhaps we have been through it, maybe we are going through it, or for some, it is yet to come. It is the time when young adults are finally discovering themselves and find that they do not know who they are. Presenting with the overwhelming choices and possibilities of the future, young people do not often know where they should go. That is where we find Julie at the start of The Worst Person in the World. Played by the magnetic and charming Renate Reinsve, Julie is a woman without a purpose. She has switched endlessly between college majors always searching for her true calling. Now in her late twenties, she started med school before migrating into psychology and then, most recently, into photography. She floats idly from relationship to relationship, never quite settling down with any one of her partners for very long. She is currently living with Aksel, a successful comic book artist, but a new relationship could threaten that stability.
A title card at the start of Joachim Trier’s delightful and vibrant The Worst Person in the World informs us that Julie’s story unfolds as a “film in twelve chapters, a prologue, and an epilogue” setting the tone for the magic to follow. The film unfolds like a storybook, moving freely from vignette to vignette capturing brief moments to the widest strokes with ease. It plays dynamically with emotions, moving wildly from moments of intense emotional gravity to high points of surreal levity. It undercuts the sudden, laugh-provoking title card “Oral Sex in the Age of #MeToo,” the chapter 3 title, with an intense conversation about mortality and legacy during a character’s losing fight with cancer towards the end of the film. Taking notes from the long tradition rom-coms and coming-of-age drama, the film plays with pinpoint specificity to the oft-forgotten young adult crowd.
Julie, the frustrating and all too relatable protagonist, is not a person yet. She has found herself caught between who she once was and who she is going to be. She has left the safety and security of childhood a long time ago. She has moved out, has a job and a long-term romantic partner. And yet, deep down, Julie has yet to find the woman she is supposed to be. She is faced with everything all at once. The world is too much for her. It is this foundational angst of contemporary young adult existence. Her passion seems to change on a whim. Reinsve plays the part to perfection, leading her to a Best Actress win at the 2021 Cannes film festival. Reinsve puts everything into the role, giving one of the best, strongest leading performances by the year. She is the reason Julie does not come across as completely insufferable. She finds the humanity in Julie’s near-constant self-destructive behaviour.
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| Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie in The Worst Person in the World. © Neon. |
Reinsve is not alone in the brilliance of her part. She is supported by the incredible Anders Danielsen Lie and Herbert Nordrum who play Aksel and Eivind, Julie’s two love interests, respectively. Aksel and Eivind, in part to the incredible script and part to the powerful work of Lie and Nordrum, are as fully real as Julie is. They both run the gambit between enabler and mentor, each bringing out the worst and the best in who Julie is. Aksel is the film’s ace-in-the-hole who proves strong into the second half. The character’s life slowly begins to collapse into tragedy and dismay. We helplessly watch as his career stumbles, his health wavers, and Aksel begins to shed his layers.
The Worst Person in the World marks Lie’s second notable performance of 2021 following his turn in Mia Hansen-Løve’s Bergman Island (2021). However, it is interesting to note Lie’s acting work is only part-time with his other job being that of a medical doctor. His collaboration with Trier has been one of the through lines of Trier’s location-linked “Oslo Trilogy” of which The Worst Person in the World is the third piece.
The care and attention Tier and the other filmmakers working on the film shows are unparalleled. It is the incredible script by Trier and co-writer Eskil Vogt, Trier’s writing collaborator on all four of his other feature films and a filmmaker in his own right, that gives the film so much of its power. The writing is subtle and witty finding humour in the sad parts and smart observations about life in the comedy. It is a script that is full of beautiful little moments, unexpected events, and potent contrasts of beauty and tragedy. The film then is delicate, human and beyond funny. I would imagine it would work just as well apart from the film itself.
Further, Trier’s direction paired with the beautiful work of cinematographer Kasper Tuxen is a sight to behold. The camera moves gracefully through lightly coloured, imaginative frames. There are two strong moments of surrealism that are effortlessly weaved into the film, breaking what would normally be a very traditionally shot film, but Trier creates these effortless transitions into moments unexpected all while maintaining the tension the rest of the film rests upon. It is the masterful work of a truly excellent filmmaker showing off the strength of a talented team. The Worst Person in the World is such a deeply satisfying experience because Trier combines all of these perfect elements in such a way where each is remarkable without ever drawing attention from itself and complimenting the rest. To talk about the editing is to talk about the narrative is to talk about the direction. It is clean, cohesive, and a marvel to watch.
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| Renate Reinsve and Herbert Nordum in The Worst Person in the World. © Neon. |
Through it all, I cannot help but feel a deep, profound resonance with the story and characters presented. The film is brutally honest but is willing to accept the chaos and inherent absurdity of life. The magical heightened reality of The Worst Person in the World feels like a contemporary fairytale. It moves swiftly through scattered points of Julie’s story as she struggles to make sense of herself and the world around her.
Liminality, n. — Cultural anthropology. A transitional or indeterminate state between culturally defined stages of a person’s life.
Julie, like everyone, is a work-in-progress and The Worst Person in the World is honest with our failures and our worst tendencies. We do not get to see all of Julie’s story, just the moments that matter. She might be the titular worst person in the world, but we love her for it. She is all of us. She is every insecurity, every bad decision, and every chance to grow. “You are a very good person,” says Aksel to Julie towards the end of the film. Despite their dramatic, turbulent life together, Aksel sees the good in her. Julie is far from perfect, but she is willing to try. It is a story that I cannot help but find utterly compelling. We can all find ourselves in Julie because, at times, we all feel like the worst person in the world. The only thing that matters is we try to become the people we can be.
Score: 5
The Worst Person in the World is now playing in select theatres.
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