Directed By Joachim Trier

Starring – Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Maria Grazia Di Meo

The Plot – A modern dramedy about the quest for love and meaning in contemporary Oslo. It chronicles four years in the life of Julie (Reinsve), 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.

Rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and some adult language

The Worst Person In The World – Official Teaser – YouTube

POSITIVES

The one constant in this thematic trilogy is Trier, who supplants no shortage of authenticity or honesty to the range of his subverted form of storytelling, by way of pulling something freshly evocative for all indulging in its mastery. For a story so simplistic in its outlining plot, there really is an unforeseen complexity within this twelve-chapter structure that initially seems choreographed from the aspects of their title summaries but are anything but predictable when fleshed out through the wisdom with experience that the film affords to us so delicately. The chapters themselves each represent a pivotal point in Julie’s life that help further convey the changing complexion in both her wants and needs, but also in the maturity of the character that springs from first-hand experience along the way. Tropes are left on the cutting room floor of Trier and fellow screenwriter Eskil Vogt’s stimulating creativity, which in turn elicits a refreshing direction that drove us across the world to find, but one the audience wields with truthful integrity to the benefit of the story. These instances allow the internal conflicts to resonate accordingly to the detection of the audience, which in turn make them all the more believable when they eventually materialize externally, granting us a decoding clarity towards Julie that is comprehendible without downright justifying. From there, it’s the creative depth instilled to one smoothly intoxicating presentation, granting us never-ending beauty in the breathtaking vantages of scenic serenity or artistic concepts with the lens that pushes the cinematography to such spell-binding heights. Certain framing measures are spared for use to only convey certain feelings and insights into the psychologies of its depicted characters, while others mesmerize experimental approaches with a complete lack of subtlety and a corresponding soundtrack that elicit contextual realty inside of the mind of the woman these experiences resonate so humbly from. On that figure, the work of Reinsve that won her a Best Actress trophy from last year’s Cannes Film Festival is superbly sublime here, especially in moments of dramatic heft, which she attains with watery eyes and raw emotion that level anyone and everything in her wake. It would be easy for this character to feel detestable in the eyes of the audience with the extent of her irresponsible actions, but Renate’s and Julie’s luminating humanity, as well as her unpredictably spontaneous demeanor, give way to a character that resonates so effectively with the moments in her life that come to define her, summarizing a tour-de-force breakthrough for this young actress that paves the way for much future critical acclaim. Aside from Reinsve, I felt that Anders Danielsen Lie hands in a gut-wrenching performance by way of a third act reveal that affords him access to the tear ducts of the movie’s vulnerable audience. This surprise really does rock the foundation of the film for where it eventually ends up, but also cements a dynamic between he and Julie that define the importance that each of them plays toward one another for a lifetime, transcending romance for something much greater in the value of life’s ever-changing bigger picture.

NEGATIVES

Though I was never bored during the 123-minute run time that practically flew by while lost in the depths of these sharp conversations, the twelve-chapter structure of the storytelling within the film’s three act structure does eventually become tedious at a couple of key chapters that should’ve been omitted all together from the finished product. These scenes add little to nothing of what is necessary for the story being told, especially with one such instance where the story drifts away from Julie to give backstory to another momentary character, who in the thick of things post-movie doesn’t seem integral to what was needed. If Trier really values these moments, then combine them to another chapter’s timeline, as making a solo chapter for a two-minute scene of additional exposition seems like inconsequential padding when nothing effective is summoned from their distracting incorporation. Beyond this, the ending itself is satisfying enough for the kind of open-ended ambiguity that Trier was going for in channeling the spontaneity of life, but I found the profoundly powerful moments during chapters eleven and twelve to offer a much more satisfying emotional climax to the resolution of the movie. The epilogue itself is nothing harmful, it’s just similar to literary novel epilogues, which are nothing more than an afterthought. Fine for the final thoughts of a narrator in a book, but not as stimulating in attaining momentum for the closing moments of a film this impactful.

OVERALL

Thankfully, “The Worst Person in the World” is just another clever title from the eyes of its self-loathing protagonist, and not a summary for what’s entailed. Trier crafts a cerebral romantic comedy that creatively subverts the tired and torn tropes of a redundant subgenre, while gripping us with the wisdom of love, loss, and lifelong inspiration that periodically appear in the most unpredictable places and circumstances.

My Grade: 8/10 or B+