By Sonia Chang (26A01A) 

(Spoilers: I would say there are worse people.) 

Across twelve chapters, The Worst Person in the World traces our protagonist, Julie, drifting through her late twenties and early thirties in Oslo as she hits the dead-end of dream after dream – moving restlessly through careers, lovers, and versions of herself. Directed by Joachim Trier, this film is both a buoyant romcom and a millennial Bildungsroman, as airy and effervescent as it is existential. 

Trier tells Julie’s story like a novel: in twelve chapters with a prologue and epilogue that follows her across distinct phases. On some level, this imposes a sense of order onto the whirlwind of Julie’s life. Yet some chapters span years, while others a single night. Time is not linear but contracts and dilates under emotional experiences. And this formal instability extends further to scenes where even reality unravels. The psychedelic sequence, in particular, disrupts the film’s otherwise naturalistic texture, wherein Julie’s consciousness and unconsciousness spill out onto the screen.