Aksel: "Do you realize what you're doing? What you're destroying?"
Julie: "Yes, of course. That's why it's so hard."
The Worst Person in the World is a 2021 Norwegian romantic dramedy directed by Joachim Trier, the third film in his spiritual "Oslo Trilogy" after Reprise and Oslo, August 31st. It made its premiere at Cannes on July 7, 2021.
Told in twelve chapters, as well as a prologue and epilogue, the story follows Julie (Reanate Reinsve) as she navigates young adulthood, primarily focusing on her relationships between two men, Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) and Eivind (Herbert Nordrum).
The Worst Person in the World contains examples of:
- Bittersweet Ending: Julie doesn't end up with either of her love interests, with Aksel dying from pancreatic cancer and her breaking up with Eivind. But she seems to have finally found her calling in life, choosing to become a photographer.
- Book Ends: The film starts with Julie becoming a photographer, before eventually working at a bookstore, and the film concludes with Julie being a photographer again.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The first six chapters are mostly light-hearted, if appropriately dramatic in a rom-com-ish way. The second six are meant to introduce more realism into the story, and the whole movie takes a more melancholic tone.
- Convenient Miscarriage: The movie ends with Julie losing her pregnancy in the shower and looking relieved.
- Did Not Get The Guy: The film ends with Julie without either of her love interests, with her breaking up with Eivind and Aksel succumbing to cancer.
- Falling-in-Love Montage: Julie has one of these with both Aksel and Eivind.
- Genre Deconstruction: Of the romance genre. The first six chapters operate by pretty standard beats, while the second six inject some heavy doses of reality, ultimately leaving Julie without a partner by the movie's epilogue, something unconventional for most romance movies.
- Happily Married: Subverted with Julie and Aksel, who ultimately don't last despite their genuine affection for one another and intellectual compatibility.
- Mushroom Samba: Julie, Eivind and Eivind's friends all have a night like this after finding a bag of mushrooms.
- Non-Indicative Name: No, Julie is not the worst person in the world. The title is a deliberate misnomer at Julie's expense as, despite her indecisiveness, she goes on to demonstrate real talent in her endeavors and compassion for the people she loves.
- Onscreen Chapter Titles: Each one is named with the exception of the prologue and epilogue.
- Sex with the Ex: After it's established Julie wants out of their relationship, she and Aksel hook up one last time before she leaves.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: Both Julie and Eivind start seeing each other before they break things off with their partners. The night they meet is spent doing whatever non-romantic things they can think of to keep from legitimately cheating, including using the bathroom in front of each other. It's still pretty romantic.Eivind: We didn't cheat.Julie: We didn't. No.
