The Worst Person in the World is nominated for two Oscars at the 94th Academy Awards, for Best International Feature Film and Original Screenplay for co-writers Joachim Trier (who also directs) and Eskil Vogt. After watching it, it’s a wonder it doesn’t have at least one more nomination for its lead female actor Renate Reinsve, who plays Julie, the character whom the film centres on and who at times feels like the worst person in the world as the title suggests.
Renate Reinsve plays Julie, a young woman who the best way I can describe her is as someone who is seeking. We first meet her as she impulsively changes passions and pursuit of things/people without fear. The way she throws caution to the wind is both aspirational and cautionary.
In her seeking, she ends up in a relationship with the older Askel (played by Anders Danielsen Lie) who is at the point in his life where he decidedly knows what he wants. He wants to take his comic work in a more serious direction than that of his youth, and he wants a serious committed relationship with Julie. He’s upfront about that, and Julie tells him that’s what she wants. However, by this point the character of Julie has proven to be impulsive, unknowing of her true desires, so while she commits to him, the audience is in on how it’s only a matter of time before she finds a reason to seek a new path. The film is a look at those that seek and those that cling.
That comes in the form of wedding crashing, and another person in a relationship that has reached its best by date. Julie meets Eivind (played by Herbert Nordrum) at a wedding party she goes to uninvited, and they connect immediately, despite both being in a committed relationship and saying they won’t cheat. While they don’t have sex, they decidedly cheat (both emotionally and crossing some physical bounds) on their partners.
The film’s title itself is an apt description of Julie’s emotional feelings of disconnect in her relationships and why she can’t find a career path she enjoys and stick with it. We all sometimes feel like we are the worst person in the world, undeserving of happiness, and some of her choices feel like self-punishment.
Stylistically the film uses a lot of rom-com tropes, like serendipity (meeting again unexpectedly), but my favourite was the use of freezing time. The sequence itself was amazing in its scope. It was a fantastic fantasy sequence that led her directly to her desire at the moment.
A lot of the The Worst Person in the World is about art/creative people, and early in Eivind’s introduction, he makes a confession that’s supposed to be embarrassing. It is that he kinda likes the Barcode Project in Oslo (where the film is predominately set). My own confession is, I too kinda like it, especially at night. I like that it is corporate architecture that isn’t attempting to just reach the sky. I think the Barcode Project is the perfect allegory for Julie and her journey. Because love or hate her, at least she is trying and not just letting life pass by in monotony.