The Worst Person in the World

A young woman battles indecisiveness as she traverses the troubled waters of her love life, all while struggling to find her career path.

The Worst Person in the World is technically a 2021 release, put out late in that year in order to make Oscar consideration, but its wider domestic release date was later, so I’m going to count it as a 2022 film, even though I didn’t actually see it until 2023. It is also the third film in Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s Oslo Trilogy, which starts with “Reprise” in 2006 and “Oslo, August 31st” in 2011. I haven’t seen either of those films, but they’re on my list now, because I loved this one.

I’m sure that there’s a lot of us out there who can relate to at least some part of this film, as it’s all about the conflict between who you are, who you think you’re supposed to be, and who you actually want to be. This is film that will speak to anyone who has felt lost and unsure about their path at one time or another, too unconnected from the choices that are more acceptable to society. It will speak to the restless and unfocused artists out there, the ones who feel that fire, the drive to create, but just aren’t clear as to how to actually do it. It will speak to the quietly dissatisfied, the ones who yearn for something—anything—more than what they have now. Who are you, and why are you here? These are the universal questions this film explores.

This is also a film about the every day mountains and molehills, the tempests in the teacups, the brief bursts of joy, and the sudden tragedies, the sum totality of everyday life, the myriad of things that shape us, all told in a dozen chapters (plus a prologue and an epilogue) that follow four years in the life of a young woman named Julie.

Julie is pretty, interesting, bright, used to succeeding and impressing, and bored by the life that is expected of her, but unsure how to find her actual place in it, to find her real life, as she drifts though potential romances, possible careers, and connections to her friends and family. Renate Reinsve finds Julie’s heart and lays it out bare for the audience to see. It’s a fantastic performance.

The Worst Person in the World is a sophisticated masterpiece of cinema. It is a rare gem, an unexpected film that speaks openly and truthfully about the human existence and all through the unvarnished, often unflattering, and terrible beauty that is the mundanity of everyday life.

Entertaining. Captivating. Fantastic.