Julie is a medical student in Oslo who transfers to psychology and then photography. In her late 20s, she starts a relationship with Aksel Willman, a comic artist 15 years older than her. Now dabbling in writing, she spends a weekend with Aksel at his parents' house. Aksel floats the idea of starting a family with Julie, but Julie is uncertain. While walking home from a publishing event for Aksel, Julie crashes a wedding reception and meets Eivind, a barista. Though both are in relationships, they spend the night together sharing jokes and intimacies, but without sexual relations. They exchange only their first names and part ways.
Julie writes a short story about feminism and oral sex. Aksel is impressed by it and encourages her to post it online, where it receives attention. She celebrates her 30th birthday at her divorced mother's home, but her father fails to attend, claiming back pain. Days later, Julie's half-sister inadvertently reveals that their father was watching her play at a football tournament on Julie's birthday. He makes excuses to decline Aksel's invitation to visit him and Julie in Oslo. While working at a bookstore, Julie runs into Eivind and his girlfriend Sunniva. At dinner with Aksel's brother and sister-in-law, Aksel complains about the sanitized cinematic adaptation of his politically incorrect comic series Bobcat, leaving Julie feeling bored and ignored. She daydreams about going on a date with Eivind, where they fall in love. The next day, she breaks up with Aksel.
Eivind leaves the obsessively social-justice-and-climate-conscious Sunniva because of her restrictive lifestyle. Julie and Eivind move in together. He hosts a small party where one of his friends uncovers Eivind's stash of psychedelic mushrooms, which Julie consumes, leading to hallucinations. The next night, she tells Eivind that she can be herself around him. Aksel's brother happens upon Julie at work and discloses that Aksel has incurable pancreatic cancer. Some time later, Eivind finds a short story Julie wrote. When he assumes it is autobiographical, Julie angrily denies it and patronizes him.
Julie learns she is pregnant and delays telling Eivind. She visits Aksel in the hospital, and he says he is afraid to die and still loves her. Julie admits that she is pregnant. Despite his assertions that she would be a good mother, she remains frightened. Returning home, Julie tells Eivind about her pregnancy, and says she needs time to decide whether she wants to keep the child. She later receives a voicemail from Aksel's brother reporting that Aksel is unlikely to survive the night. While showering, she has a miscarriage.
Some time later, Julie is working as an on-set photographer at a film shoot. She photographs an actress and then sees her outside with Eivind and a baby. She returns home to edit the day's photos.
MK2 Films secured a sales deal on the film in February 2021.[11] The film had its world premiere in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival on 7 July.[12][13][14] A week later, the film's US distribution rights were sold to Neon, while UK and Ireland rights were acquired by Mubi.[15][16]
The Worst Person in the World had its North American premiere on 11 September as a Gala Presentation at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.[17][18][19] The film was released theatrically in France on 13 October 2021 by Memento Distribution, in Norway on 15 October 2021 by SF Studios, in Sweden on 19 November 2021 by TriArt Film and in Denmark on 16 June 2022 by Camera Film.[20][21][22][23]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 96% of 240 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "The Worst Person in the World concludes Joachim Trier's Oslo trilogy with a romantic comedy that delightfully subverts the genre's well-worn tropes."[25]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 90 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[26]
The Guardian'sPeter Bradshaw described the film as "one of Cannes' best" and "an instant classic".[27] Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair called it "exquisite, wistful (and downright sad)", praising the cast performances and Trier's writing.[28] In a review for IndieWire, David Ehrlich gave the film a grade of B and commended Reinsve's performance, writing, "If Julie is less of a character than a vividly realized archetype, Reinsve didn’t get the message."[29]Vanity Fair and The Atlantic declared The Worst Person in the World the best film of 2021.[30][31]
Among the negative reviews, Deborah Ross wrote, "The ‘messy young woman’ trope has become, I think, rather overdone.... It’s got to the point where a film about a woman who, say, sticks to a profession, fills in her tax return on time, has developed some certitudes about life might be the more interesting, more original option.... The two hours go by pleasantly enough but the bottom line is: I felt nothing and didn’t care."[32]Richard Brody concludes that the film "is a sham, except for its lead performance. Joachim Trier’s drama about an intrepid and passionate young woman in Oslo reduces her to a handful of character traits. [...] Trier’s film is set up like a deck of tarot cards, with each scene and event... corresponding clearly to a character trait and pushing a button of pre-programmed emotional response. Its narrowness of dramatic form reflects the narrowness with which it views its protagonist and the narrowness of the world view that it embodies.... The movie offers no details about any conflict between domestic and artistic life.... driven by a relentless focus on Julie’s personal life, but it’s a focus that remains obliviously impersonal."[33]
^Sarman, Eva (14 November 2021). "Världens värsta människa". Filmeye.se (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
^Lawson, Richard (1 December 2021). "The 10 Best Movies of 2021". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
^Sims, David (7 December 2021). "The 10 Best Films of 2021". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 30 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
^Nordyke, Kimberly; Lewis, Hilary (8 February 2022). "Oscars: Full List of Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
^Fredriksen-Sylte, Alexander (13 August 2022). "Hvilken norsk film mener du var årets beste?" [Which Norwegian film do you think was this year's best?]. NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
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