Film Review: THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (2021): A Moving Dramatic Comedy About Love, Life and Sex

The Worst Person in the World Review

The Worst Person in the World (2021) Film Review, a movie directed by Joachim Trier and starring Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Maria Grazia Di Meo, Herbert Nordrum, Mia McGovern Zaini, Hans Olav Brenner, Nataniel Nordnes, Deniz Kaya and Vidar Sandem.

Director Joachim Trier’s new Norwegian film The Worst Person in the World (which Trier also co-wrote) is one of the most daringly unique movies about love and sex to come out in some time. This picture is unapologetically frank and realistic in its portrayal of a young woman who is close to turning 30-years old when the main action of the film begins. She’s named Julie and she’s played by the superb actress Renate Reinsve who will win your heart over during the course of this movie. She’s not always an easy character to relate to but we always understand why she does what she does in the picture, and one can’t help but root for her to find happiness in a world full of complexity and unpredictability.

As the film opens, Julie is studying to be a doctor but finds she’s more interested in psychology than studying the actual parts of the body. However, she ultimately learns that her heart is actually in photography. That will be a hard career to pursue from a financial standpoint, so she ends up working at a bookstore to help make ends meet. This picture is comprised of 12 chapters which are certainly of varying lengths as well as a prologue and an epilogue. Julie’s first main love interest in this film is the character of Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), a 40ish comic book artist whose controversial cartoons are definitely an acquired taste. Despite Aksel and Julie’s age difference, they enter into an affair which comes under review when Aksel declares that he would like to have a child. Julie claims she’s not ready yet and has things to do in life before she can have a baby but when Aksel asks her what they are, she can’t give him a straight answer as to what she wants to do that would prevent her from having children.

When Julie meets a more down-to-earth man who doesn’t want children, the plot thickens a bit. They share an encounter in which they talk frankly about life and then part ways. In one of the film’s most intriguing sequences, everybody and everything around Julie freezes and as everything (and everyone) is standing still, Julie runs through the streets looking to get to this man who can help her escape her challenging life. She finds him and, eventually, they start to see one another. This other male character who works in a coffee shop is named Eivind and is portrayed very likably by Herbert Nordrum. It seems Eivind and Julie have more romantic chemistry than Aksel and Julie, but the movie has some surprises in store for the audience as to what will occur in the end.

There are some scenes about family that ring true in the film such as when Julie’s father discusses the reasoning behind why he can’t come see her. He has some health issues but also blames other factors such as transportation problems as factors in his inability to see his daughter and we feel the frustration of the characters as this provides a barrier to a strong connection between family members. Julie also writes an article about sexual liberation that gets published which her father doesn’t even seem to know how to look at.

Joachim Trier examines Julie’s actions and thoughts under a microscope, so to say, to help define the character and give her plausibility. There are raw sexual discussions in the film such as when Julie talks about oral sex and the like. Both Nordrum and Reinsve and Danielsen Lie and Reinsve have on-screen chemistry together but form a different type of connection and interaction depending on the relationship at hand. It’s hard to say that it’s predictable to determine who is best for Julie and the movie offers no easy answers as to who she should choose (if either of them).

Reinsve is absolutely fantastic projecting a sense of humanity, a lot of humor as well as a great deal of sensitivity in her complicated character. She shows Julie’s loss of direction in life especially in the scenes where she’s at work in the bookstore where, at one point, she’s accidentally knocking down books and, at another, told that a key character has become sick by a mutual friend who shows up there. It’s to the film’s credit that the character of Julie is able to be relatable because she may have been a lot less likable in a lesser movie.

Danielsen Lie offers a gem of a performance as the cartoon artist who is suffering the most during the course of the film. In an excellent sequence, he must argue that his explicit cartoon is a valid form of art whereas a talk show hostess declares his work to be highly offensive. When Aksel defends his work and suggests that if his cartoon characters call somebody a “whore,” it’s to get out male aggression, the hostess claims that the correct term for “whore” is sex worker and doesn’t want to listen to his reasoning. One can’t help but feel for Aksel whether we want Julie to end up with him or not.

Late in the film, there are some very compelling and emotional scenes between Danielsen Lie and Reinsve which both performers handle remarkably well. There’s something about that relationship that rings even truer than the other one and helps shape the core of the film and give it a dramatic center. Reinsve, despite her character’s inability to easily discover happiness, makes the relationship between Aksel and Julie very touching and Julie realizes what is important in life and then proceeds to make decisions accordingly for her future. Of course, fate intervenes a bit as well in helping her make those choices.

The Worst Person in the World is such a funny, powerful movie that it will no doubt provide Drive My Car with stiff competition at the Oscars in the category of Best International Feature Film. Drive My Car may ultimately win but both films are equally powerful in terms of their character development. Trier’s picture has so much passion in it from its stars that is destined to make a lasting impact on the viewer. While both movies can’t win Best International Feature, they can both win Oscars if The Worst Person in the World takes home the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. With movies like Belfast and Licorice Pizza competing in that race, it may be an upset but don’t count The Worst Person in the World out.

Rating: 9/10

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