The Worst Person in the World

Directed by Joachim Trier, The Worst Person in the World follows Renate Reinsve’s Julie as she attempts to discover herself over the course of a few especially tumultuous years. It’s familiar territory that’s employed to deliberately-paced yet progressively enthralling effect by Trier, as the filmmaker, armed with a script written with Eskil Vogt, delivers a perpetually watchable drama that benefits from its smattering of engrossing interludes and an absolutely mesmerizing performance by star Reinsve – with, in terms of the latter, the actress’ top-tier efforts ensuring that Julie becomes as intriguing and sympathetic a protagonist as one can easily recall. (And it doesn’t hurt, either, that Trier has elicited equally strong work from such periphery players as Herbert Nordrum and Anders Danielsen Lie.) And although Trier has peppered the proceedings with a handful of striking, jaw-dropping sequences, including (and especially) a showstopping set-piece involving Julie’s frozen-in-time daydream, The Worst Person in the World‘s continuing emphasis on its central character’s ennui and increasingly compelling exploits ultimately paves the way for an often spellbinding second half – with the climactic stretch’s unexpectedly heartbreaking (yet oddly uplifting) bent cementing the picture’s place as another winner from a top-tier filmmaker.

***1/2 out of ****