“Any great movie has “moments” or plot
twists that cause one to sit up and take note. This movie has several.” (Review
by Barry Meehan)
The Worst Person In The World is one of the films on the forthcoming European Film Festival in South Africa which goes hybrid for its 9th edition between October 13 and 23, 2022.
Writer/s: Joachim Trier & Eskil Vogt
Director: Joachim Trier
Country Of Origin: Norway
Language: Norwegian with English Subtitles
Running Time: 128 minutes
Leads: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen
Lie, Herbert Nordrum
Who amongst us can honestly say that he/she
has/had life completely figured out by their milestone 30th birthday? Not many,
I’ll vouch. We might think we have a reasonable handle on things, but then –
when we least expect it – a hammer in the works, or a curveball, can stop us in
our tracks and mire us in a re-evaluation of our lives, past, present, and
especially the future. The question this very different movie asks is whether
the mistakes we have made (or will make in the future) make us a bad person, or
in the case of a major error, make us the “worst person in the world”.
Joachim Trier (writer/director) has certainly created something different with this movie, starting by dispensing with the standard three-act format, instead laying it out very much like a novel, with a prologue, 12 chapters, and an epilogue. To emphasize the book layout and feel, he also sneaks in sections of voice-over narration, a good technique which imparts a lot of information in a short time frame, going against the tried and tested “show, don’t tell” scriptwriting basic rule.
Renate Reinsve gives an immaculate performance as Julie, a 29 year-old single woman who is struggling to find a career path. Her gaze is capable of portraying an incredible range of emotions, letting us know exactly what is going on inside her head through her relationships. She meets up with Aksel, (Anders Danielsen Lie) a successful comic book artist and 15 years her senior. The in-and-outs (and indeed, the ups-and-downs) of their relationship form the basis of the movie, a relationship that cannot be destined to last, for various reasons that would spoil your enjoyment of this excellent film if I went into them here. One needs to ponder many aspects of The Worst Person in the World while watching it (and afterwards) keeping an open mind, comparing the protagonists’ exploits and foibles against your own life path.
Any great movie has “moments” or plot twists that cause one to sit up and take note. This movie has several, including a truly memorable fantasy scene in which Julie goes running through the streets of Oslo while all other citizens and traffic remain motionless around her. She obviously finds this rather liberating, and it helps her decision making for a brief moment before the realities of her life return to bog her down again.
Other wonderful moments to watch out for include the magic mushroom sequence, the night that Julie and Eivind (Herbert Nordrum) spend together that doesn’t quite descend into cheating, and Aksel’s emotional and deeply moving lines towards the end of the movie.
Altogether, this is a superb film, well worth watching. One of the highlights of the Festival. – Barry Meehan
The European Film Festival 2022 is screened online and runs from October 13 to 23, with all movies screened for free. There are also some showings in cinemas in Cape Town and Johannesburg. For more information, click on the Festival logo to the right of this article or visit www.eurofilmfest.co.za
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