'The Worst Person in the World' Movie Review: A film that plays by its own rules

Renate Reinsve's omission in Best Actress is criminal.

What’s the movie about? A woman who can’t decide if she should do what the world expects a woman of her age to do, or actually make her own choices in career and love.

And now, my thoughts on the movie, which is nominated for Best International Film and Best Original Screenplay at Sunday’s Oscars.

I really enjoyed The Worst Person In The World, a movie that played by zero Hollywood rules--and thus, ruled the day for its entire running time. Something most films can’t say. A film without a genre, which is also rare.

No, the movie is thankfully not adapted. What I dream about is a world where Hollywood can’t remake, reload, rehash, or attempt to reestablished an already existing IP, or intellectual property. That includes adapting books. Oy vey… all those books that should be allowed to live only on the page. What I liked about this movie, co-written and directed by Joachim Trier, is that it was original in every shape and form.

Whether or not you approved of Julie’s decisions throughout the movie, you stuck with her due to the authenticity that was on screen. It’s another reason why I really think 2021 will be underappreciated overall due to the Academy Award awards omitting so many great films. This one found some representation, but deserved much more.

As Julie, the epitome of a free spirit, Renate Reinsve makes sexy look original again on screen, and not just in her looks but her choices as well. There’s something mysterious and fleeting about Julie’s eyes, and how she chooses to use them. She is a woman who leads with her desire, not just with her heart or brain. While she is in a relationship with a good man, her lust for life can carry her on an all-night bender with another man--one who is also in a relationship.

When I say The Worst Person in the World plays by no rules, I mean it. That includes how society expects women to act once they get into their late 20s and 30s. Julie isn’t interested in settling completely down, at least for more than 30 minutes on a park bench. She doesn’t want to have a baby, which can chain a free spirit to the ground for good.

Julie is the kind of person who can stare at a man and say, “I love you. But I also don’t love you.” Somehow, she comes out of it as the person we are rooting for, no matter what she does or says. Most movies treat love and desire like a Hallmark card or a train wreck. For a lot of people, it’s complicated and always walking with one of its shoelaces untied.

Reinsve makes you buy into that feeling, and she’s not someone begging for attention. She’s the hunter at parties, not the prey. I think a lot of men and women would follow her into the woods just out of curiosity. Or the allure of being close to someone not bound by the ordinary rules of life.

Why do people HAVE to get married and have kids? When did that become a requirement after two people fucked? The world is overpopulated as is. Slow down.

That’s the attitude I took from this movie. It felt like a punk rock star at a fancy party, going in directions most screenplays don’t go. One of the honest times I wish a movie was a mini-series.

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