Norwegian director Joachim Trier centers The Worst Person in the World on Julie (Renate Reinsve), but she’s not nearly as bad as the title would have you believe. A young woman on the verge of 30, Julie drifts among various potential careers and romantic relationships, either unable to decide what she wants or incapable of contentment. But is that so wrong? Bringing the same, unsentimental empathy evident in the likes of Reprise and Oslo, August 31st, Trier and regular co-screenwriter Eskil Vogt expertly outline the self-doubt, familial complications, and societal expectations that are also at play in Julie’s life. Reinsve gives Julie both a hard edge and soft center, so that we root for her even when she makes decisions with which we disagree. Better still is regular Trier collaborator Anders Danielsen Lie as one of Julie’s loves. He has a late-film line reading, riffing on the movie’s title, that Julie receives with clear eyes, but will likely reduce audiences to tears.
(12/16/2021)
