Continuing the countdown of my favorite 2021 movies…
Best Films of 2021
#5 – The Worst Person in the World
Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World was one of the last 2021 films I saw before finalizing my top ten list, and the one I was most anticipating. Despite the burden of those expectations, this movie managed to surprise and delight me in a dozen different ways.
First it was more narratively daring than I expected, then more dramatically resonant. It was more sexually frank, more emotionally intuitive, more stylistically clever, more willing to engage with modern cultural debates. Finally, it was unexpectedly thoughtful about mortality and purpose.
In an era when pre-release hype and tell-all trailers make so many movies feel old before I’ve ever seen them, it’s a treat to experience the thrill of discovery.
The discovery of Trier, a writer-director who brings a Woody Allen Manhattan vibe to his native Oslo. The discovery of Renate Reinsve, a luminous presence who shoulders both the comic and dramatic moments with charm and grace. And the discovery of another place, an ocean away, as functional and beautiful in its own way as cities I’ve known.
I notice one thing just about all the movies on my top ten list have in common is a unique sense of place. That’s something I’ve always been drawn to onscreen — an opportunity to immerse myself in brand-new environments.
The Worst Person in the World delivers that with its depiction of Oslo, but in a way the movie itself feels like a whole new place I’m visiting for the first time. I can’t wait to go back.
It’s the rest of a stump, it’s a little alone
It’s a sliver of glass, it is life, it’s the sun
It is night, it is death, it’s a trap, it’s a gun
The oak when it blooms, a fox in the brush
The nod of the wood, the song of a thrush
The wood of the wing, a cliff, a fall
A scratch, a lump, it is nothing at all
It’s the wind blowing free, it’s the end of a slope
It’s a bean, it’s a void, it’s a hunch, it’s a hope
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March
It’s the end of the strain, it’s the joy in your heart
The foot, the ground, the flesh and the bone
The beat of the road, a sling-shot stone
A truckload of bricks in the soft morning light
The shot of a gun in the dead of the night
A mile, a must, a thrust, a bump
It’s a girl, it’s a rhyme, it’s a cold, it’s the mumps
The plan of the house, the body in bed
And the car that got stuck, it’s the mud, it’s the mud
Afloat, adrift, a flight, a wing
A cock, a quail, the promise of spring
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March
It’s the promise of life, it’s the joy in your heart
A point, a grain, a bee, a bite
A blink, a buzzard, a sudden stroke of night
A pin, a needle, a sting, a pain
A snail, a riddle, a wasp, a stain
A snake, a stick, it is John, it is Joe
A fish, a flash, a silvery glow
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March
It’s the promise of life in your heart, in your heart
A stick, a stone, the end of the load
The rest of a stump, a lonesome road
A sliver of glass, a life, the sun
A night, a death, the end of the run
And the riverbank talks of the Waters of March
It’s the end of all strain, it’s the joy in your heart
Meet Me In Montauk 
Apparently, these people live in a world where people listen to Art Garfunkel’s solo music.🤪
Seriously though, this is one we want to see, hopefully this week before the Oscars.
I loved this movie again for all the reasons you mention above. Hope it wins!
Just reading your post now as I, too, wanted to go into the film knowing as little as possible and enjoy the discovery. What a special film. I’ve heard deserved raves about Reinsve’s luminous performance, but I was unprepared for how good the two male leads are, each delivering moments worthy of award recognition.
The director’s choices are bold and perfect. We were intrigued by the decision of the writer/director (?) to provide just the slightest context of the pandemic. For me, that just made Aksel’s storyline all the more poignant.
Finally, this is the kind of film that I always mark among my favorites… a “small,” authentic story about people living their ordinary extraordinary lives.