“JULIE, IN SEARCH OF HERSELF”

By Raymond Benson

Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, a film from Norway, was nominated for the Best International Feature at the 2022 Oscar ceremony. It also received an Original Screenplay nomination. It lost the International Feature award to Japan’s Drive My Car, and the Screenplay award to Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast.

For this reviewer’s money, Worst Person deserved the Oscar over the (albeit excellent) Drive My Car. It’s such an original, lively take on the concept of “romantic comedy” (with shades of darkness) that it was a joy to view.

Worst Person is the third in director Trier’s so-called “Oslo Trilogy,” which includes Reprise (2006) and Oslo, August 31st (2011). All three films were written by Trier and Eskil Vogt. Filmed in and around Oslo during the pandemic, the picture is a marvelous depiction of how the quality of a production was maintained during Covid-19, and a behind-the-scenes supplement included on the disk emphasizes this achievement.

Julie (Renate Reinsve) is a 29-year-old single woman who at first thinks she wants to be in medical school, but she changes her mind and veers toward psychology. But then she takes a left turn and pursues photography. It soon becomes clear, even after Julie turns 30, that she isn’t sure what she wants in life. She dabbles in writing, works in a bookstore, and becomes involved with a handful of men. Two of these romantic relationship are central to her world—the first, to underground comics writer/artist Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), and then to coffee shop baristo Eivind (Herbert Nordrum). Aksel is a bit older and is keen on solid commitment and having a family—something to which Julie is adamantly opposed. Eivind, who is more her age, is in tune with her free spirit ways. Julie’s parents are divorced, and she gets along well with her mother (who obviously has concerns about Julie’s lack of direction in her life), but not so well with her father (who has remarried a younger woman with a daughter). By the end of the tale, Julie finally settles on what appears to be a path that hopefully will make her happy—but of course this is ambiguous, like life itself.

Renate Reinsve is absolutely radiant in the role of Julie, and she lights up the screen in every shot. She is totally believable as a character that is so deeply nuanced and real that we feel as if we know her. The two leading men are also excellent, especially Anders Danielsen Lie, who must undergo a physical change in the flow of the story.

Trier’s direction is superb. He manages a tightrope act of comedy and drama that recalls some of the best of Woody Allen, Eric Rohmer, and Francois Truffaut, but there are also hints of old Hollywood screwball comedy in the mix. And then there is the influence of intimate Scandinavian angst, as in Ingmar Bergman. The celebrated dream/fantasy sequence, in which Julie “stops time” one morning, runs across town to meet her new lover, spends an entire twenty-four hours with him, and then returns to the flat is simply exhilarating. Extras on the streets of Oslo are “frozen” in movement, along with cars and bicycles, and the only animated humans in the scenes are Julie and Eivind. Shooting the sequence proved to be a challenge because of Covid, as illustrated in the previously-mentioned supplement. The filmmakers had to halt production and resume it during a completely different season of the year.

The Criterion Collection’s new Blu-ray is a 2K digital master with a 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio. Kasper Tuxen’s gorgeous cinematography is showcased in this exceptional presentation. Supplements include a nearly hour-long “making of” documentary containing interviews with Trier, Vogt, Reinsve, Lie, Nordrum, Tuxen, and sound designer Gisle Tveito. The supplement about the pandemic difficulties and time-freezing sequence is fascinating and is a canny lesson for budding filmmakers. Finally, there are some deleted scenes that are also worthwhile. One involves Julie and Aksel texting each other after their breakup; the time lapse photography is very effective and would have been a nice addition to the final cut.

The Worst Person in the World is funny, sad, and provocative. It is a celebration of what it means to be a Millennial, albeit a European one, in today’s mixed messages society. For fans of romantic comedies with bite, international sensibilities in film, and solid storytelling and acting.

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