A sharp, humane coming-of-age drama for adults, blending romantic uncertainty, career drift, and existential dread with wit and emotional precision. It’s especially rewarding if you like character studies that feel painfully specific but broadly relatable.
The Worst Person in the World
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Drama · Romance
Wed · 2h 8m
Director: Joachim Trier
Starring: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum
Overview
The chronicles of four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is.
Director
Joachim Trier
Cast
Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Herbert Nordrum
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, humane coming-of-age drama for adults, blending romantic uncertainty, career drift, and existential dread with wit and emotional precision. It’s especially rewarding if you like character studies that feel painfully specific but broadly relatable.
Best for
viewers who like intimate character studies
fans of bittersweet romantic dramedies
people drawn to millennial/late-20s identity crises
audiences who appreciate naturalistic performances and observational writing
Skip if
you want a plot-heavy movie with clear resolutions
you dislike emotionally messy protagonists
you prefer broad comedy or high-concept romance
you’re not in the mood for reflective, sometimes melancholy relationship drama
Overview
The Worst Person in the World is the rare contemporary relationship film that feels both featherlight and devastating. It follows Julie through romantic detours, career uncertainty, and the slow realization that becoming an adult does not arrive as a single epiphany. The film’s emotional honesty comes from how casually it lets life change shape around her, without forcing tidy lessons onto the mess.
Worth noting
Joachim Trier’s direction is elegant but never showy, and Renate Reinsve gives a performance that can pivot from charming to wounded to quietly self-aware in a breath. The movie understands how modern identity is built out of indecision, desire, and the fear of choosing wrong. It’s funny in a rueful way, but the humor never undercuts the ache.
Bottom line
What lingers most is its sense of time passing: the feeling that one version of yourself is always slipping away as another takes its place. That makes it less a cautionary tale than a compassionate portrait of being alive at the moment when your life is supposed to be settling down, and discovering it never really does.
Top Letterboxd reviews
margot (5★) · 42903 likes
julie is a m̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶t̶u̶d̶e̶n̶t̶ p̶s̶y̶c̶h̶ ̶s̶t̶u̶d̶e̶n̶t̶ photographer julie is in her m̶i̶d̶ ̶t̶w̶e̶n̶t̶i̶e̶s̶ l̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶w̶e̶n̶t̶i̶e̶s̶ early thirties julie is a o̶n̶e̶ ̶n̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶ l̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ h̶e̶a̶r̶t̶b̶r̶e̶a̶k̶e̶r̶ loved one julie has l̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶a̶i̶r̶ s̶h̶o̶r̶t̶ ̶h̶a̶i̶r̶ b̶l̶o̶n̶d̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶i̶r̶ brown hair julie is an ever changing person. she makes bad decisions and good decisions and worries about the wrong things. she is the best worst person in the world
maria (4★) · 27841 likes
can't wait for the american remake with dakota johnson
alba (5★) · 25579 likes
babe wake up a new relatable sad girl who feels lost in life just dropped
Megan Bitchell (5★) · 14583 likes
Oh word I’m just never gonna be happy?
john (5★) · 14420 likes
That awful moment when you realize the movie is about you.
Themes
identity crisis, romantic uncertainty, millennial adulthood, career drift, self-sabotage, time passing, emotional honesty, modern relationships