Movie Review: The Worst Person In The World Is The Best Film
I feel like my 20’s are marked by the desperate search for stability…. for jobs that will give me purpose… for relationships that will give me constant joy…. and hobbies or nights-out that will fill me with such exuberance I no longer have gnawing thoughts of life as a boring burden, and instead it’s a blessing. Being twenty-something is a “defining decade” because it is undefinable. No matter how hard you try, gaining a solid foundation that doesn’t feel like a ton on your head is hard. The Worst Person In The World is one of the best films of 2021 because it understands that feeling of being so full of life and having no idea what revives you.
Renate Reinsve as Julie feels like the titular embodiment of a 25 year old’s existential crisis. Divided into 14 chapters, director Joachim Trier covers 4 years of her post-grad life, which is INSTABILITY TO THE MAX. She changes jobs and lovers in search of a feeling of belonging that, frankly, I don’t think anyone finds until they are older and have given up the search. Yes, that sounds bitter, but as Reinsve grows before our eyes as a young girl believing the world is her oyster into a young adult understanding she’s just another fish swimming in the sea. Reinsve serves one of the best performances of the year, in part, because she shows innocence and ego can look very alike.
It is not a sin to believe you can have it all, but poor choices are born from not seeing all that you are and can be. This is why innocence and ego can look alike; they both entail a lack of awareness. Whether it is with optimistic (Herbert Nordrum) and the solid Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), love hits Julie like a rushing wave that will, eventually, recede. This makes total sense. Falling in love during an identity or existential crisis is the equivalent to jumping into a lake without knowing how to swim; sure, you may figure it out, but you also may DROWN. For Julie, the latter is true, and seeing her maneuver through the bliss and pain of wanting more and not knowing whether that means better is palpable and relatable. The embedding of this film into Julie/ Renate’s emotional performance makes it simmer and slow in pace.
This film is a character piece, which means we are going to get gorgeous shots of Julie in her thoughts and rough cuts of her letting all of them loose; for better or worse. This also means that the film is highly conversational, and one of the movies where you need sage and a journal entry to discuss how it stirs within you the the ugly beauty of being young and lost, which can feel one in the same. Out in theaters February 4.
