The Worst Person in the World

The best way to build momentum is to make a splash at Cannes and then to impress around the festival circuit enough to win an Oscar nomination. Joachim Trier’s film The Worst Person in the World did this as its lead, Renate Reinsve, won the 2021 Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actress Award, and it’s currently celebrating nominations for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay at the 94th Academy Awards.

Julie (Renate Reinsve) is a confused woman in her 20s. She has had a hard time picking her career path when she meets a 15-year older guy, the graphic novelist Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) and falls in love with him.

With his new film, The Worst Person in the World, the acclaimed Danish-born Norwegian Joachim Trier (Louder Than Bombs, starring Isabelle Huppert, The Oslo Trilogy) continues to impress critics and viewers with his melancholy meditations about love, ambition, memory, and identity. The movie, which world-premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, offers a subtle portrait of a young woman named Julie, who is very much a product of her times.