When exactly are you supposed to have your life all figured out? Some people know straight out of high school with their college and career paths plus future family plans laid out step-by-step. For other people, it’s perhaps during or after those college years of barely being an adult with some reckless choices to (hopefully) learn from. Then there are those who maybe never figure it out – which, I bet, is more common than many may think. It differs from person to person, but what is common for many, is the inescapable pressure of adulthood that only causes more and more anxiety as youth comes closer to reaching its inevitable end. That anxiety of youth fading away is the center of Joachim Trier’s extraordinarily unique, The Worst Person in the World.

It's told in twelve chapters with a prologue and an epilogue. The film’s focus is the chaotic, self-centered, yet lovable and bold Julie (Renate Reinsve). Her life up to this point has, more or less, been dictated by her indecisiveness and fleeting relationships. As Julie turns thirty, she struggles to decide if she wants to pursue a predictable and stable life with successful comic book artist, Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) or give into the romantic impulses of exciting youth with barista, Eivind (Herbert Nordrum). All while doing this, she eventually discovers who she thinks she wants to be with a number of curveballs she gets thrown in these twelve chapters.

Through Julie, the film wonderfully explores the uncertainties of life and the uncertainties people have about themselves through the never-ending process of self-discovery. It is a film that somehow manages to perfectly balance the silliness and charm of a romantic comedy with the harsh and unforgiving environment that resembles an Ingmar Bergman drama. It never ceases to surprise you in the most subtle and also the most outrageous ways, but no matter what the film throws at us, none of the sequences feel forced or out of place. In fact, the moments that the film breaks through to the dramatic and surreal moments are the best and most memorable parts of the whole picture. A moment like when Julie flips on a kitchen light, making the world freeze so that her and Eivind can spend a sweet, romantic day together…like they are the only two people in the whole world…that is a moment when the film feels truly magical.

It is absolutely one of the best character-driven films to be made in recent years. The characters are so fully formed that you love them and hate them at the same time, but there is never a lack of understanding between the characters and the audience. Reinsve is sensational as Julie with one of the year’s best performances, and her two supporting men are just as top-notch portraying the two polar opposite pillars of Julie’s ever-changing world.

It's funny, entertaining, melancholic, outrageous, romantic, and everything else in-between. This is a film that will make you feel absolutely every feeling you have available. It is so rare that a film has the power to move its audience on such a deep and extremely relatable level, and The Worst Person in the World does it flawlessly. It is an absolute roller coaster of emotions, and frankly it is really hard to not love this picture. Do not walk…RUN to see this picture. 

The Worst Person in the World is now playing in select theaters.

Home Video Distributor: Criterion
Available on Blu-ray - June 28, 2022
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English, French
Audio: Norwegian: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A

Renate Reinsve won the Best Actress prize at Cannes for the revelatory, complex performance that anchors this sprawlingly novelistic film by Norwegian auteur Joachim Trier, an emotionally intricate and exhilarating character study of a woman entering her thirties. Amid the seemingly endless possibilities of the modern world, Julie (Reinsve) wavers over artistic passions and professions, the question of motherhood, and relationships with two very different men: a successful comic-book artist (Trier regular Anders Danielsen Lie) and a charismatic barista (Herbert Nordrum). Working with a team of longtime collaborators, Trier and his perennial cowriter Eskil Vogt construct in The Worst Person in the World, the Oscar-nominated third entry in their unofficial Oslo Trilogy, a liberating portrait of self-discovery and a bracingly contemporary spin on the romantic comedy

Video

The magical Norwegian skylines and the pop of the primary colors that are a constant character throughout the film are dazzling with the new 2K digital transfer taken from the 35mm print. Kasper Tuxen’s cinematography is just as beautiful and jaw-dropping on this release as it was in theaters. A great transfer.

Audio

The 5.1 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack shows off sound designer Gisle Tveito’s work perfectly. With the ever-changing sound the reflects the perspective of the characters, every dip, every rise, and every sound effect are mixed to perfection. And composer Ola Fløttum’s delicate and evocative score is alive and well in the mix.

Supplements:

Taking us through some of the most memorable and magical moments of the film, fans will be more than ecstatic with what is included on this release. Interviews, behind-the-scenes, and analysis from many who worked on the film. Perhaps some of the best special features in the world. (See what I did there?)

Commentary:

• None

Special Features:

• New interviews with director Joachim Trier; co-screenwriter Eskil Vogt; actors Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, and Herbert Nordrum; cinematographer Kasper Tuxen; and sound designer Gisle Tveito
• On-location footage from the creation of the film’s time-freezing sequence
• Deleted scenes
• PLUS: An essay by critic Sheila O’Malley

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Composite Blu-ray Grade

MPAA Rating: Rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and some language.
Runtime: 128 mins
Director: Joachim Trier
Writer: Joachim Trier; Eskil Vogt
Cast: Renate Reinsve; Anders Danielsen Lie; Maria Grazia Di Meo
Genre: Comedy | Drama
Tagline:
Memorable Movie Quote: "I always worried something would go wrong, but the things that went wrong were never what I worried about."
Theatrical Distributor: Neon
Official Site: https://neonrated.com/films/the-worst-person-in-the-world
Release Date: February 4, 2022
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:  June 22, 2022
Synopsis: A modern dramedy about the quest for love and meaning in contemporary Oslo. It chronicles four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is.