The Worst Person in The World: A Storybook Coming of Age
Fairytale meets reality in the acclaimed 2021 coming of age masterpiece.
The opening of The Worst Person in The World shows the protagonist, Julie, at what appears to be the peak of her life, a desirable position both literally and figuratively. Smoking a cigarette while staring over a beautiful vista in a fancy gala dress, one would assume Julie is not only visually sophisticated, but mentally and emotionally strong. However, when the film chooses to jump back in time to her college years, we learn the opposite. She’s a doctor because of her interest in helping others, but she realizes she has a passion for the inners of a human being. So, it’s official, she’s set to be a psychologist. Except she’s really passionate about photography, or maybe…nothing at all. She lives partner to partner, unfulfilled dream to unfulfilled dream until eventually landing on Askel, an older comic book artist who represents a lifestyle she simultaneously dislikes and feels is necessary to be an accomplished adult. Askel is well put together, works at a stable job, and most importantly, has a passion he attained from following his ambitions. After the two meet and the prologue ends, the film cuts to a bonding retreat with Askel’s friends through an iris transition, a way to conclude the prologue of the film in a fitting romanticized manner. We are also introduced to the structure of the film, which consists of thirteen chapters along with a prologue and epilogue. Essentially, the opening minutes of the film present Julie and her story in a way akin to a children’s book or fairytale. A princess meets her prince while chasing an unreachable passion, overlaid with voice over narration and concluding with the iris transition marking a distinct switch to real life, and it is in this reality where we learn the truth about Julie’s life, Askel’s passion, and the development of the main message of the film: life is not a fairytale.
At the bonding event Julie’s insecurities are exposed when Askel brings up the idea of having a child. Julie refuses, claiming she’s not ready to be a parent, that she has to wait for that elusive “thing” that will make her life complete and ready for a future of adulthood. Surrounded by older, successful, adults that all have children, passions, and the same monotonous lifestyle, Julie realizes that not only does she hate the scheduled existence that comes with growing up, but that Askel represents that very way of life, and that maybe he isn’t the one. The development and feelings are subtle, but enough to have Julie fit into the quintessential coming of age “lost” protagonist. Over the next few chapters Julie tries her hand at writing, visiting her estranged father, and running into a new man, Eivind, at a party she crashes on the way home from Askel’s gallery. Again, in a scene only present in coming of age movies, Eivind and Julie talk the night away while flirtatiously claiming they aren’t cheating. The two match each others rebellion, desire for thrills, and childlike energy in a world Julie finds oppressive in its regimented repetition of daily adult life. After promising to never see each other again, Julie runs into Eivind and his partner at the bookstore she works at, where they desperately make an attempt at conversation without being too obvious. Later, on the brink of a breakup, Julie flicks a light switch and pauses time. She runs through the frozen streets of Oslo to Eivind’s coffee shop. Again, they talk until the sun rises in a world finally revolving around Julie. This is it, this is the correct choice to make. After the fairytale like reunion, Julie returns home, and to reality, as she faces the raw and difficult emotions of breaking up with Askel. It’s a romanticized view of life that one cannot help but be swept away by, and acts as another piece in the puzzle of this films storybook like aesthetic.
Eivind too gets his own chapter, where we learn his partner took a sudden shift to spirituality that he simply could not keep up with. While she initially appeared to be the one, Eivind learns that it is really Julie that will make his life complete, and as the two spend their days together they only fall more and more in love. It is during this stint when the two decide to take shrooms with a few friends, and all of Julie’s insecurities are visualized. Her body turns old, her father sits in a rocking chair in the distance, and others point at and touch her as the films changes media to animation. While surreal, it is incredibly telling of the character, a reminder to the audience that despite a life changing decision that seemed to be one that bestowed fulfillment and purpose in Julie, she is still the same insecure woman from the beginning of the film. It doesn’t take long for there to be another life altering event when we learn Askel has pancreatic cancer with a limited amount of time left and Julie’s pregnant with Eivind’s baby. In the matter of a few minutes of film Julie is now forced to juggle thoughts of mortality and birth, life and death, which rekindles those burning insecurities and culminates in an outburst at Eivind. She claims that Eivind is not aspirational enough, that she wants more than he does, that he’s too much of a doormat and lacks ambition. It’s a projection of her own anxieties, as she too works in retail with no promise of anything greater in the future, one that now seems far too short.
She visits Askel, the lovers reunite, and although he seems optimistic enough for a dying man, Askels reveals the truth about his life and relationships with Julie. While not a perfect couple, Askel needed Julie because he was lacking what Julie still had: a childlike outlook on life and a sense of freedom the adult world seemingly takes from anyone who dares to enter. He also admits drawing, a creative outlet Julie always saw as a representation of the perfectly kept dream of an ambitious and hardworking lifestyle Askel embodies, was no longer a passion. Drawing, at the end of the day, was a job Askel was good at, and while yes, it did provide a sense of value and purpose, it did not provide that same ethereal feeling it once did. Their conversation concludes with Askel saying Julie should simply live. She should have the child, write that book, take those pictures, because at the end of the day, and as the movie has expressed, every decision that seems right or wrong can always turn into the opposite.
Eventually, Askel passes, Julie has her period, and her and Eivind split. The film ends on Julie, now in the future, working as a photographer on a film set. When a young actress struggles with the brutality of the director and the film industry as a whole, Julie comforts the talent. The actress says she felt like she did terrible, with Julie responding “use that,” demonstrating a new understanding of life. One’s own insecurities are capable of limiting them, just as they did for Julie throughout the film. However, one can harness those insecurities and use them as a means of pushing forward through all of the daily minutia and life altering events that comes with living life. As she exits the set she sees the young actress run to Eivind, and what almost seems like another fairytale chance encounter is again brought back to reality when we see Eivind pushing a stroller. He has grown up, moved on, and entered the adult life both he and Julie feared, just as Julie has.
Through the actions characters commit and sudden events that pop up, this film seems to be about the unpredictability of life. For all of her worrying, avoidance of, and preparation for adult life, there was no magical “thing” that made Julie feel ready or fulfilled. There was no decision that made her whole, no choice that fixed her life, no person that magically healed her. There isn’t a passion or a job that fixed Julie’s nagging insecurities, but rather her own work to bring her to the point she is at when the film ends. The movie is a series of decisions that are presented with a romanticized view of life, giving every choice the concreteness Julie craves. However, the storybook aesthetics works to aid the film in its main theme by actively contradicting it. By making the film visually appear as a perfect story come to life, the main theme is strengthened, as it feels that the film is breaking its own fairytale rules of perfection to give an accurate representation of life. There is no set path, no limited number of chapters, no perfect decision, so why not just live?