Julie is a thirtysomething woman in Oslo. Across 12 chapters and an epilogue, she goes through a series of false starts in career, love and identity. She keeps turning into someone the previous version of herself never planned to be. Joachim Trier's film is the definitive millennial portrait of a person who cannot stop reinventing herself.
The Worst Person in the World is a 2021 drama, romance and comedy film directed by Joachim Trier. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (3 narrative and 1 cinematography), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Moonlight uses several of the same techniques.
Switching to a clearly different look and mood from one part to the next, either between chapters of 1 film or between a film and its sequel.
How this film uses it
Across its 12 chapters, the film moves between romantic comedy, magical realism, sharp grief and quiet realism. Each change of tone follows a different phase of who Julie is becoming. The film slides between genres the same way she refuses to settle on one identity.
Where to see it
The chapter in which time freezes and Julie runs through Oslo to find Eivind. It is the film's one magical realist sequence. It announces that desire works outside the normal rules of time.
Telling the story out of order by jumping between time periods. The order you see events in changes how you understand them.
How this film uses it
Each chapter is a separate episode in Julie's life. The portrait you get is non-linear. The chapters connect mostly through emotion and theme, and strict cause and effect matters a lot less.
Where to see it
The chapter titles appearing on screen ('Oral Sex in the Age of #MeToo,' 'Julie's New Life'). Each one is a new beginning that changes how you see what came before.
Watching events from a measured distance with no swelling music, tear-jerking close-ups or showy camera moves. The film trusts what happens to carry the weight on its own.
How this film uses it
Trier watches Julie's choices without judging them. That covers her indecision, her self-sabotage and her genuine attempts to be honest. The film trusts you to understand that the 'worst person in the world' is simply someone trying to figure out who she is.
Where to see it
The party where Julie meets Eivind. The film watches clearly as she crosses from one man's world into another's, and she can't yet name what she is doing.
Holding a close-up on an actor's face long enough to catch tiny changes in expression. You read what the character is thinking from details a wider shot would miss.
How this film uses it
Kasper Tuxen's camera stays close to Renate Reinsve throughout. In the end, what the film has to say is in the precise movements of her face. It passes through feelings that the ironic chapter titles can't keep at a distance.
Where to see it
Julie's final scene on a film set, where she works as a photographer. The close-up holds on Reinsve's face as she moves through something you can't name as either grief or resolution.
Questions
The Worst Person in the World: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does The Worst Person in the World use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in The Worst Person in the World (2021): Tonal Succession, Non-Linear Narrative, Observational Restraint and Deliberate Close-Up Performance.
Who directed The Worst Person in the World?
Joachim Trier directed The Worst Person in the World, released in 2021. CineCode also covers Thelma (2017).
What films are similar to The Worst Person in the World?
Films that share techniques with The Worst Person in the World include Moonlight (2016), 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026), Oppenheimer (2023), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).
