Vareen Ismail
The Worst Person in the World is the modern-day equivalent of Jane Austen, portraying the uncertainty of human connection and the individual’s drive to find true love.
The Norwegian film – directed by Joachim Thrie- is split into 12 chapters with a female narrator adding satirical commentary.
The film is a tragic rom-com about Julie, who is played by the 2021 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress, Renate Reinsve. She is in her 20s – but this is just an extended adolescence.
Society’s Expectations
The opening scene is a still shot of Julie looking blankly ahead, with a Muslim girl wearing a hijab standing beside her. Apart from this scene, we never see anyone who isn’t white, highlighting Julie only sees Oslo from her own perspective – from her own bubble of privilege.
With her 30th birthday fast approaching, Julie feels trapped by society’s expectations and the ever-daunting capitalist idea of becoming a ‘real’ adult.
Everyone assumed she would go on to be a doctor because she was a high flyer at school, but at her core, she is a free spirit who reinvents herself constantly.
Ultimately, she makes the decision to leave medicine and pursue her passion for photography – but the pressures of conforming to society don’t stop there for Julie.
Julie’s life changes when her long-term partner Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) asks her to have a baby. He is a non-PC comic book writer in his 40s, with friends who are having kids. He is at a different stage of life from Julie who is scared of motherhood.
As Julie becomes the soon-to-be wife of Askel, she realises a ‘traditional relationship’ might not be for her.
Relationship Breakdowns
She becomes quickly infatuated with Elvind (Herbert Nordrum), a man she meets whilst gatecrashing a wedding. They test the boundaries of cheating without ever actually physically doing so on their respective partners.
Aksel tells Julie she is destroying their relationship for no reason but it is clear Julie doesn’t want to continue their relationship.
“These daydreams are worlds away from the hallucinogenic horror scene where she flings the baby covered in blood at a laughing Aksel”
Thrie uses surrealist techniques to contrast Julie’s complicated feelings for both Elvind and Askel. She has daydreams of Elvind, imagining all of Oslo is frozen in time, so she can spend the perfect day with him.
These daydreams are worlds away from the hallucinogenic horror scene where she flings the baby covered in blood at a laughing Aksel.
These techniques also allow us to see a fuller picture of Julie’s identity – moments of ecstatic joy, death and cartoonish graphic horror.
The relationship between Julie and Elvind also eventually breaks down, as Julie tells Elvind she wouldn’t be happy if she still worked at Elvind’s day job at a cafe.
Living Alone In Your 30s
“changing herself for a man won’t solve her issues”
Julie becomes pregnant by Elvind but as he is an environmentalist, he doesn’t want children. It is ambiguous whether Julie had a miscarriage or abortion, but we get a sense that Julie feels relieved to have her period back whilst in the shower.
After reinventing herself multiple times throughout the film, Julie finally achieves her dream of becoming a photographer on a film set. Despite, the misogyny of the industry she is happy with her career.
Her journey throughout the film has helped her realise that changing herself for a man won’t solve her issues and won’t help with her anxiety about being in her 30s with no kids or partner.
“Everyone has to sacrifice something in order to be happy”
In the closing scene, we see a male director telling an actress to cry beautifully and Julie has to capture the actress in this moment of vulnerability. She sees the actress walk away from the set with Elvind pushing a stroller.
The Worst Person in the World highlights how everyone has to sacrifice something to be happy. We all have to make concessions to live in a capitalist world.
But its main takeaway is the drive to be more. Your meaning can’t be solely based on the desire to have a baby and to get married. You have to preserve your independent spirit.
It is a message that will resonate with many young people who don’t know what to do with their lives, showing there is no one way to be a ‘proper’ adult – we can only be human.
Featured image courtesy of Jon Tyson via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
