Language : Norwegian.
Director : Joachim Trier.
Writers : Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt.
Cast : Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum.
Genre : Drama.
Imdb: The Worst Person in The World (2021)
Streaming on Amazon Prime (US Region)
Disclaimer: Film is intended for Mature Audiences and Some Spoilers follow.
“The Worst Person in The World is the best movie in the world”.
-Paul Thomas Anderson
The Worst Person in The World (2021) is also one of the frontrunners for the best Foreign Language film for Oscars 2022. It’s a modern day dark romantic comedy.
The Worst Person in The World (2021) is a conservative’s worst nightmare come true and probably the “I told you so” moment. It explores Modern Society and Relationships so realistically and poignantly.
The Worst Person in The World shows the whole story of the movie via the eyes of Julie ( Renate Reinsve ). She is undisputedly the lead character. The film including the sex scene is filmed from the female point of view or female gaze (young woman’s gaze) rather than how films are usually shot.
Renate Reinsve, is sublime and very memorable. Her playfulness and charm easily lures the viewer in and probably makes you love a part of her, maybe even wholly, and empathize with some of her actions, her background or her decisions, some of which led to the title being what it is in English. Julie seeks to find herself, and a career path where she can enjoy and probably thrive. During the four years which the film covers, you can see a lot of changes in her dreams, the people she surrounds with, and the important life decisions. However one thing remains constant, she wants to make something of herself and make herself proud. She also has a tendency to avoid the hard parts, the confrontations, the hard decisions, repairing or dealing better with her strained relationship with her dad which she conveniently keeps that for later, or while giving proper closure to her boyfriend while breaking up, so that she doesn’t want to crush him or was it because she didn’t want to deal with the confrontation? There is also an amazing conversation in the movie about screens and the massive screen time we are subject to, how being young is very different and difficult today, the pressure, heart-breaking, the choices unlimited, there’s no time to think.
Some questions the movie has caused me to ask myself are:
Career, happiness, love life, can you achieve it all? How hard is this realistically in the times we live in?
How would life look in the future without institutions?
Can we be a little more considerate while exercising our freedom of Choice?
Can Political correctness lead to censorship?
Are citizens becoming too soft and looking for opportunities to be offended these days?
Will more and more people choose not to procreate?
Are there faults or gaps in Feminism?
If you look at the course of history. Man becomes freer as time passes. People today are even trying to escape the boundaries and legislations of countries.
But is man, or woman here in case free from the repercussions or consequences of their actions? What should man/woman do to escape the consciousness within?
Can man alone take care of himself and his family? Does he need society, does he need God, Government and other forces to keep him in check and prevent himself from destroying himself?
People belonging to different social and geopolitical backgrounds can watch this film and feel very differently about this film. Not many will love it, and the imperfect story it has to say, but I’m sure everyone will agree the lead performers have given their whole heart to the movie be it Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, or Herbert Nordrum.
This film is nowhere close to being an out and out entertainer. It’s quite sad, upsetting and reflective of modern times, even though there are a lot of short intense joys in the lives of main characters in the film. Perhaps that’s how life has always been. We just love to look fondly at the past and reminisce in nostalgia. Maybe not. I’ll let you decide.
Verdict – 6/7 stars
Brilliant.
Trivia
- According to Joachim Trier, the film has been referred to as “the rom-com for people who hate rom-coms.”
- Joachim Trier’s statement for the film: “For a long time I have wanted to make a film about love. One that goes a bit deeper than normal onscreen love stories, where everything is so simple, the stories so clear-cut, the feelings so admirably unambiguous. A film that will look seriously at the difficulties of meeting someone when you’re struggling to figure out your own life; at how irresolute and uncertain even the most rational and otherwise self-confident people can become when they fall in love; and how complicated it is, even for romantics, when they actually get what they have been dreaming about.”
- Prior to the movie, Renate Reinsve was ready to give up on acting to pursue a career in carpentry (Reinsve had then recently renovated a home and fell in love with woodwork). Just one day after making the life-changing decision to quit acting, Norwegian director Joachim Trier surprised her with an impromptu meeting, and together they mused about life, love, among other things. The last time the pair had worked together was over a decade ago, in Oslo, August 31st (2011), where Reinsve only had one line in an insignificant scene. Using their earlier conversation as a basis, Trier subsequently worked on the script for The Worst Person in the World (2021), with the intention that Reinsve would play the lead in it.
- Anders Danielsen Lie told director Joachim Trier before filming started, “I want to do the best acting I’ve ever done.” Trier revealed, “He’s gotten better with his craft, and he’s gotten even braver about exposing deeper emotions.” Danielsen Lie worked closely with costar Renate Reinsve to tell his character’s story through her eyes, as she’s the lead character. He added, “There’s an old-fashioned masculinity to [my character]. He feels that he belonged to a time that has passed and he is alienated by the fragmentation of culture in the digital world.” Danielsen Lie ended up receiving the best reviews of his career after the film premiered at the Cannes film festival.
- The final installment in Trier’s Oslo trilogy.
- The scene of Ole explaining to Julie what a womansplaining is, is the possible mockery of the real-life case in the Australian Senate when Senator Katy Gallagher told Minister Mitch Fifield that he was mansplaining and the minister asked for the clarification of the term.
