Today is the final day of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, and I could have rubbled about so many films (this year's and all the rest as well), but today I felt like talking (or writing) about a film that I saw two years ago and made me happy and sad at the same time.
"For a long time I have wanted to make a film about love. One that goes a bit deeper than normal onscreen love stories, where everything is so simple, the stories so clear-cut, the feelings so admirably unambiguous. A film that will look seriously at the difficulties of meeting someone when you're struggling to figure out your own life; at how irresolute and uncertain even the most rational and otherwise self-confident people can become when they fall in love; and how complicated it is, even for romantics, when they actually get what they have been dreaming about." - Joachim Trier on a statement for the film (Source: IMDb)
I read this statement on IMDb, and I think this is all you need to watch this film. It perfectly wraps up the film and the feelings and it goes as deep as it needs to without revealing too much. Of course, Joachim Trier wrote it. Who knows better a film rather than its director?
The Worst Person in the World, is the third film that completes The Oslo Trilogy (Reprise, 2006 and Oslo, August 31st, 2011) by Joachim Trier, and its a modern dramedy about the quest for love and meaning in contemporary Oslo. It chronicles 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.
When I watched this film, I was so fascinated by Julie's character. She has the perfect mix of a romantic pragmatist who doesn't know if she should define herself as a good person or a bad person. She just follows her feeling and instinct, even when she's faced with difficulties she could have not imagined.
As she approaches 30, Julie is struggling to find her way, and we - as an audience - are trying to understand whether she is, or she is not, the worst person in the world. Trier concentrates on the interactions between partners and how different stages of life might make things more challenging in the narrative. It's endearing and humorous, but also pretty serious since he opposes to the notion that movies should always have happy endings. Especially the romantic ones.
Sometimes, most of us think whether we are a good person or not at a point in our lives. And all I keep thinking when this thought comes up on my mind is, if I was not a good person, would I wonder? Would you?