Der schlimmste Mensch der Welt

The main character, Julie, became annoying in the first 5 minutes and stayed that way. Couldn't muster any empathy for her and as the film stayed with her closely the decent acting and cinematography couldn't engage me. One of those films where I was waiting for it to be over.

It's been a couple of hours since I watched this, and I'll admit, it's been hard to figure out how to give some thoughts on it through text.

I will say it resonated with me emotionally- far more than your average movie. I really felt it, y'know? Not in a way that's going to make me reshape my life or change what I'm doing day to day necessarily, but there was something to it that makes me sure it's going to stick in my brain for weeks, maybe months or even years to come.

I can't go much further than that. It's a wonderful, sometimes funny, sometimes bittersweet, sometimes soul-crushing film, and all the emotions are explored and interweaved perfectly.

There are so many great scenes... the scene where time freezes, the "what is cheating" scene, the scene in and around the hospital, the scene with the magic mushrooms... it's almost like every single chapter in the film is a highlight, and it all fits together almost perfectly.

It's a special film- the more I think about it, the better it gets, and the more it resonates. Also features some of the best acting I've seen in a while from its two leads, Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie. They're so compelling it's almost alarming how invested you get in their characters, maybe because they begin to feel like real people, at a point. Especially in the last half-hour or so- I was blown away by how real they felt, and how easily I believed that these two characters had known each other for years.

Might be a 5/5 on a rewatch, in all honesty. Life being tough and all at the moment, I was distracted by some of my own problems while watching these fictional characters deal with theirs. But the moments of crossover were extremely cathartic, and as a film, it flows so well, and didn't feel two hours long, despite having pacing that wasn't afraid to slow down from time to time.

Well, how about that.

I actually wrote quite a lot.

Good films will do that to you.

Reading the other reviews I am amazed polarizing this film seems to be. When I watched the film a few days ago at the Viennale (Vienna International Film Festival), I would never have thought that it could breed controversy. My feelings about it lie somewhere in between those comments. I never felt it to be boring but I also never thought it groundbreaking in any way. The film, especially in the beginning, has a light approach to the story, almost as if taking its main protagonist not too serious. The narration and chapter style enhances this impression. There are many, quite entertaining, cinematic ideas and moments, most remarkable the long "freeze" sequence and some animation scenes. I found those very fitting in a positive sense since the aim of the character was to find her own way of being. The male versus female relationship question about prospects, identity, future are discussed at length. Sexism is also a theme that creeps up. The film develops a deeper meaning toward the end while the final episode was a kind of let down experience which I don't want to elaborate, otherwise I would need to mark this with spoiler alert.

The acting of all is first class and touching, but why there is such an excitement on the side of the critics eludes me.

What a wonderful film. It's amazing how when you leave Hollywood behind, you find gems like this. Acting, script and direction are all excellent and the film is engaging from start to end.

Renate Reinsve is giving one of the performances of the year in this turbulent movie about what it's like being alive.

I came home from this and told my wife how much it reminded me of "Annie Hall" at times. And then later I was reading a profile of the writer and director, Joachim Trier, which mentioned that "Annie Hall" specifically was a huge inspiration for him as a film maker. So there you go.

Is Reinsve the worst person in the world? Hardly. She's a warm, loving woman, trying to figure out how to give love to others and yet get what she needs and feels she deserves herself. What happens when those two things seem mutually exclusive? Welcome to human relationships.

The movie is very funny in its first half, and then gets very sad in its last half. But it's never emotionally manipulative. It makes the case that it's ok to look out for yourself and your needs, but also that part of growing as a person is learning that the world isn't all about you.

Grade: A.