The Worst Person in the World

There is something contrived about the set-up of The Worst Person in the World, in its ho-hum “everyday” bait and switch, in its melodramatic plot turns that are well-disguised by the subtlety of Trier’s style and the skill of his actors.

Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind meets Fleabag in Norway with this smart romcom about a drifting bookshop worker (Renate Reinsve) nearing 30.

It’s sobering and moving, without too many contrivances or too much sentimentality.

Blending melancholy wistfulness with unruly energy and piercing humour, it’s a down-to-earth tale of love and death, boosted by a brilliantly believable central performance and elevated by fantastical moments of hallucinogenic horror and ecstatic joy.

When the wind blows, and on many other occasions, this is the best film in the world.

Some sequences simply don’t work. But Reinsve’s performance, warm and fearless, more than compensates and Trier should be celebrated for his ambition and, more importantly, for going there.

You might be momentarily skeptical on rewatch that The Worst Person in the World unfolds in 12 chapters. But they fly past... with Reinsve never playing anything but an intelligent, malleable character who’s trying to be the hero of her own story.

“The Worst Person in the World” is, and will go down as, one of the 2020s’ greatest films!

Lovely Norwegian film. It has been a long time since I felt so invigorated and even gratified after watching a film... [Full review in Spanish]

Trier is a gifted storyteller. The Worst Person in the World shows off the filmmaker’s command of rhythm and his affinity for the perfectly placed pop song.