The Worst Person in the World (2021): Plot, Trilogy, Reviews

Few films capture the ache of indecision quite like Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World,” a film that earned a 97% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and won Renate Reinsve the Best Actress award at Cannes in 2021. This guide unpacks the plot, the intentionally ironic title, and why it closes Trier’s Oslo trilogy with a bittersweet whisper.

Release Year: 2021 ·
Director: Joachim Trier ·
Country: Norway ·
Language: Norwegian ·
Part of Trilogy: Oslo Trilogy (final installment)

Eight key facts provide a quick reference for the film’s essential details:

Is The Worst Person in the World a good movie?

Critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

• The film holds a 97% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on over 250 reviews (Rotten Tomatoes reviews).
• On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, indicating “universal acclaim” (RogerEbert.com).

Audience vs. critic reactions

• Audience score on Rotten Tomatoes sits at 86%, showing strong but slightly lower enthusiasm than critics (Rotten Tomatoes main page).
• The Independent described it as a “portrait of millennial uncertainty” (The Independent).

Awards and festival recognition

• Renate Reinsve won the Best Actress award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival (MUBI).
• The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or and later received two Academy Award nominations (MUBI).
• It won the New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2021 (MUBI).

What is the plot of The Worst Person in the World?

Four-year chronicle of Julie’s life

• The film follows Julie (Renate Reinsve) over four years in Oslo as she navigates career changes, relationships, and personal identity (The New York Times).
• She leaves a stable partner, Aksel, for a spontaneous encounter with a younger man named Eivind (The Hollywood Reporter).

Key relationships: Aksel and Eivind

• Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) is a successful comic book artist in his 40s, representing stability and intellectual partnership.
• Eivind (Herbert Nordrum) is a charismatic barista, embodying spontaneity and emotional risk.

Thematic structure: prologue, 12 chapters, epilogue

• The story is divided into 12 chapters with a prologue and an epilogue, each marking a distinct phase in Julie’s life (RogerEbert.com).
• TIME described the narrative as “bittersweet,” emphasizing that one cannot choose all the roads not taken (TIME).

What is the message of The Worst Person in the World?

Millennial anxiety and indecision

• Critics widely read the film as a portrait of millennial or generational uncertainty (The Independent).
• Variety called it a “wry, piercing study of millennial unrest” (Variety).

The irony of the title

• The title comes from a Norwegian self-deprecating phrase used when someone feels they have made a mistake (Wikipedia).
• Director Joachim Trier has stated in interviews that the title is ironic and that Julie is not a morally bad person (The Hollywood Reporter).

Self-acceptance and imperfection

• RogerEbert.com framed the film as rejecting the idea that life has one decisive turning point that makes everything start for real (RogerEbert.com).
• The ending suggests acceptance of uncertainty, encouraging viewers to embrace imperfection.

Is The Worst Person in the World part of a trilogy?

The Oslo trilogy: Reprise, Oslo, August 31st, and The Worst Person in the World

• The film is the third and final installment in Joachim Trier’s Oslo trilogy (Wikipedia).
• The earlier films are Reprise (2006) and Oslo, August 31st (2011).

Shared themes and setting

• Each film is set in Oslo and deals with youthful uncertainty, though the characters are different (Wikipedia).
• All three explore the challenges of young adulthood, from career ambitions to romantic entanglements.

Standalone viewing vs. sequential

• While thematically connected, the films have no direct plot continuity and can be watched independently.
• Watching them in release order reveals a thematic evolution from youthful optimism to a more melancholy acceptance of life’s compromises.

Do you need to watch the Oslo trilogy in order?

Connection between the films

• The films are independent stories with no shared characters or plotlines (Wikipedia).
• Thematic links—such as the passage of time, regret, and the search for meaning—connect them.

Recommendations for first-time viewers

• Most critics recommend watching in release order to appreciate the tonal shift from Reprise‘s youthful energy to Oslo, August 31st‘s darker introspection, culminating in the bittersweet note of The Worst Person in the World.
• However, the 2021 film works perfectly as a standalone story (RogerEbert.com).

Chronological vs. release order

• Release order is the natural choice: Reprise (2006), Oslo, August 31st (2011), The Worst Person in the World (2021).
• Chronological order within the story does not apply since the films are not connected by chronology.

For anyone who has ever felt adrift in their own life, The Worst Person in the World is not a judgment—it’s an invitation to sit with the discomfort of not knowing. The film’s gentle irony and its embrace of uncertainty make it a rare kind of comfort cinema. For the indecisive millennial, the message is clear: you are not alone, and being imperfect is not the same as being a failure.