Tropic Sprockets / The Worst Person in the World

By Ian Brockway

Joachim Trier scores a low key surreal romance in “The Worst Person in the World.” This wry film is wonderfully feminist in its perspective and playfully subverts the Woody Allenish trope of the erudite male, either happy go lucky, neurotic or decidedly in control. Here, the female is number one.

Julie (Renate Reinsve) bounces through life like a pinball. She doesn’t know what she wants. She is enigmatic and elusive. But it is clear that Julie wants vibrance, color, and emotion.

Julie meets Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie). The two begin a relationship and talk about whether to have kids. Then during a night away at a party, Julie sees Eivind (Herbert Nordrum). A flirtation begins and they exchange risqué ideas and smell one another. No further action is initiated.

Later Julie sees Eivind at a bookstore with his wife but she still pursues him.

Meanwhile Julie goes back to Aksel, settling into a kind of domesticity. They begin to nag one another. Aksel driven with his art, says he is not sure about kids. The two break up.

Julie moves in with Eivind, who has his ex on Instagram and still lusts for her. Later they eat magic mushrooms together. An “Ally Mcbeal” sequence begins with Julie growing tall and throwing a tampon at Aksel’s father.

Then on TV, there is Aksel, detailing his struggles of being an artist in today’s world. Julie only watches. But her mind is on Aksel. 

This is a pleasant and breezy film for the most part with Julie as the dark center. Why can’t she commit? We are never quite sure. Perhaps she is overwhelmed with life, but it could well be something else.

The film is constructed in twelve short vignettes. It is brisk and quietly compelling as one wonders about Julie’s capricious ways and her selfishness.

The only drawback of the film is the interchangeability between Aksel and Eivind. Facially it is hard to tell them apart or what distinguishes them. We know that Aksel is driven by his creativity but Eivind is a bit of a sloth, working at a coffee shop and shuffling about at home. 

Julie clearly is attracted to Aksel but refuses to act, thwarted by happenstance at every turn.

When Julie comes to Aksel in his hour of need, Julie stands silent and motionless, while Aksel confesses his heart. Strange indeed. She is left looking out at Oslo, miles of water ahead of her. 

While the pace and the narrative structure might divide audiences, the acting is first rate because of Renate Reinsve. And it is refreshing to see such a mysterious and opaque character, head the genre of romantic comedy.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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