Editor’s Note: “The Worst Person in the World” contains disturbing imagery.
“The Worst Person in the World,” titled “Verdens verste menneske” in Norwegian and directed by Joachim Trier, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year. While the title may make you think the film is about guilt and morality, it’s actually a romantic comedy and drama about a thirty-year-old woman who doesn’t know what to do next.
The film tells the story of Julie (Renate Reinsve), a medical student-turned-psychology student-turned-photographer who can’t stick to a single path. At a party, she falls for Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie), an underground comic book artist in his 40s. He says their age gap makes the relationship a bad idea, but she turns around, walks back into the room and falls in love with him. The two seem to be a happy couple.
Julie feels pressure to have children alongside her changing career paths. The comic book artist’s friends have children. The film also reveals how many children her ancestors had at her age in a funny bit looking through old photographs. She feels unsure of herself and unsure of what she wants, moving from passion to passion. She’s waiting for something, but she’s not sure what.
Then, at a party for Aksel, Julie is shown in profile in a shot that also starts the film. She is smoking a cigarette, looking bored and unsatisfied.
As she walks home, she decides to spend the night at a random party and meets a man named Eivind (Herbert Nordrum). They do a variety of things together, claim they are not cheating and end up splitting when the night is over. This happens fairly early in the movie. I honestly do not understand what Julie sees in Eivind. He is not as interesting a character as the comic book artist.
At an important moment for Julie and Aksel’s relationship, a sequence is used to make it seem as if the whole world stops. Everyone else is frozen in time as Julie runs through the city towards Eivind, the only other person who moves. Shots from this scene were used in a lot of the film’s promotional material.
The second half of the film is not as strong as the first half. This is partially due to Eivind’s increasing part in the story and other choices.
The second half of the film has one grotesque scene that I feel I must warn about. Several of the characters use magic mushrooms and there is a horrific and repulsive animation involving the comic book artist’s character that I will not describe. A bit later, the film seems to respond to my complaints by showing the comic book artist being interviewed on television and defending his work, but I did not find his defense convincing.
“The Worst Person in the World” has some beautiful and touching moments and an intriguing main character. I do not think, however, that the film needed the disturbing and repulsive imagery it uses. There is an in-story explanation that the comic book artist’s work is very inappropriate, but I think people should know about this if they want to see the film.
Scott Lerer can be reached at [email protected].
