You’re a crappy person in your twenties, believe me I should know because I’m living through them right now. I’ve been quite lucky in the sense that I’ve had stable jobs and a relationship for most of my twenties, but in an age where so much is uncertain and so much is expected of you before you even know what kind of person you are, it’s understandable as to why so many people in their twenties feel like their barely keeping their head above water as their world is constantly crashing down around them.
I have not seen Resprise, or Oslo, 31st August, Joachim Trier’s previous two films in his Oslo trilogy which are connected by their themes, but the third and final entry, The World Person in the World caught my eye earlier this year. I missed the theatrical run but managed to get time to watch it on MUBI recently and I’m so happy I finally got to see it. I think it’s a film that everyone in their twenties should watch.
Having dropped out of her studies to become a doctor (something she has always been working towards because it seemed academically fulfilling) in order to pursue a newfound passion in photography, Julie (Renate Reinsve), aged twenty-seven, enters into a relationship with comic book artist and writer Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), who is fifteen years her senior. Aksel wants children, but Julie who is still trying to find herself and settle into her new career wants to wait. As their relationship strains under the pressure of them being at two different stages of life, Julie meets Eivind (Herbert Nordrum). Closer in age and also not wanting children, they immediately click, placing Julie in the problematic situation of having to choose between two men she loves for completely different reasons, and having to decide what direction she wants the rest of her life to go in.
I have not seen Resprise, or Oslo, 31st August, Joachim Trier’s previous two films in his Oslo trilogy which are connected by their themes, but the third and final entry, The World Person in the World caught my eye earlier this year. I missed the theatrical run but managed to get time to watch it on MUBI recently and I’m so happy I finally got to see it. I think it’s a film that everyone in their twenties should watch.
Having dropped out of her studies to become a doctor (something she has always been working towards because it seemed academically fulfilling) in order to pursue a newfound passion in photography, Julie (Renate Reinsve), aged twenty-seven, enters into a relationship with comic book artist and writer Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), who is fifteen years her senior. Aksel wants children, but Julie who is still trying to find herself and settle into her new career wants to wait. As their relationship strains under the pressure of them being at two different stages of life, Julie meets Eivind (Herbert Nordrum). Closer in age and also not wanting children, they immediately click, placing Julie in the problematic situation of having to choose between two men she loves for completely different reasons, and having to decide what direction she wants the rest of her life to go in.
That plot synopsis makes The Worst Person in the World seem as though it’s just about a woman who can’t decide which boy she’d rather date, and that that’s an extremely shallow representation of what the film is actually about. In reality it’s about Julie going on a journey of self-discovery throughout her twenties and finally taking the reins of her own existence, steering her life down a path she wants, rather than one that other people have chosen for her.
The way the film frames Julie is intriguing because she is presented as both the protagonist and the villain. Every decision she makes seems as though she’s throwing her life away, that she has something she should be extremely grateful for, but yet she isn’t happy and throws it away for something else. There’s an element of despising her inability to be satisfied with anything, yet Julie isn’t a villain. Despite her feeling at times like the worst person in the world as the title suggests, just because she has something others would consider good doesn’t mean she’s truly happy, and Julie’s journey of accepting that and discovering what she wants is compelling and moving.
The performances are strong all around, but Reinsve does truly steal the show as Julie. She’s totally convincing, there was not a single moment in the film where I felt like she was an actress playing a character. Lie is also strong, but particularly in the latter stages of the film. I think the more Julie understands about Aksel, the more Lie's performance resonated with me.
On a visual level the film reminded me a lot of Richard Linklater’s films, particularly Before Sunrise, where the camera is always kept quite close. It made the film really intimate, which makes sense considering its main focus is one woman’s relationship with two men. But there was a really great moment when Julie finally decides to cheat on Aksel with Eivind and the world around her just stops. It perfectly encapsulated that feeling of one person being your entire world in that very moment, and I though I’ve seen similar things done in the past I felt that Trier really captured that feeling here which is what made it stand out so much to me.
I think you’d be stubborn and in denial to walk away from The Worst Person in the World without having learned something about yourself in the process. Whether it’s the way you think about your career, or your relationship, the education you had, or your childhood. For someone in their twenties it resonated a lot with me, and I really do think this is essential watching for people around my age. It’s smart, it’s funny, it’s sad, and I think the most important thing is that despite everything that happens it leaves you feeling hopeful at the end both for yourself and for Julie. Things will get better, things will find their own way of working out, and through it all you’ll have learned an awful lot about yourself.
The way the film frames Julie is intriguing because she is presented as both the protagonist and the villain. Every decision she makes seems as though she’s throwing her life away, that she has something she should be extremely grateful for, but yet she isn’t happy and throws it away for something else. There’s an element of despising her inability to be satisfied with anything, yet Julie isn’t a villain. Despite her feeling at times like the worst person in the world as the title suggests, just because she has something others would consider good doesn’t mean she’s truly happy, and Julie’s journey of accepting that and discovering what she wants is compelling and moving.
The performances are strong all around, but Reinsve does truly steal the show as Julie. She’s totally convincing, there was not a single moment in the film where I felt like she was an actress playing a character. Lie is also strong, but particularly in the latter stages of the film. I think the more Julie understands about Aksel, the more Lie's performance resonated with me.
On a visual level the film reminded me a lot of Richard Linklater’s films, particularly Before Sunrise, where the camera is always kept quite close. It made the film really intimate, which makes sense considering its main focus is one woman’s relationship with two men. But there was a really great moment when Julie finally decides to cheat on Aksel with Eivind and the world around her just stops. It perfectly encapsulated that feeling of one person being your entire world in that very moment, and I though I’ve seen similar things done in the past I felt that Trier really captured that feeling here which is what made it stand out so much to me.
I think you’d be stubborn and in denial to walk away from The Worst Person in the World without having learned something about yourself in the process. Whether it’s the way you think about your career, or your relationship, the education you had, or your childhood. For someone in their twenties it resonated a lot with me, and I really do think this is essential watching for people around my age. It’s smart, it’s funny, it’s sad, and I think the most important thing is that despite everything that happens it leaves you feeling hopeful at the end both for yourself and for Julie. Things will get better, things will find their own way of working out, and through it all you’ll have learned an awful lot about yourself.