The Worst Person In The World is the first five-star movie of 2022

Don't let this gem pass you by.

Sometimes you watch a new movie and you immediately know it is the kind of movie that you're going to go out of your way to tell everyone about, for fear that it will inevitably fly under the usual radar. Sure enough, The Worst Person In The World is released in cinemas on the same day as Michael Bay's latest explosion fest Ambulance, as well as two brand new high profile horrors, The Cellar and Umma. So chances are a movie like this will get lost in the mix, so we take it upon ourselves to make sure everyone knows that it is in cinemas, because this is 2022's first five-star movie and is likely to have a profound impact on viewers of a certain generation. The story follows Julie (Renate Reinsve) across fourteen "chapters" of her life, kicking off as a university college in Oslo, detailing her interactions with friends, lovers and family, jobs, love and sex; every vitally important topic and connection people have in their twenties and thirties. While that doesn't sound revolutionary in any way whatsoever, what director/co-writer Joachim Trier does is give us scenes that we've seen over and over again, but provides us with the best possible versions of each of them. So we get a break-up that feels like someone has reached into our chests and torn our hearts out. We get a meet-cute at a wedding that is the sexiest portrayal of flirting ever committed to film. There are incredibly awkward arguments with parents or about kids, there are scenes of people saying goodbye forever that will have you in absolute tears, there are spontaneous dance parties soundtracked to Amerie's '1 Thing' that makes you wish you got an invite. It makes sense why the Oscars - usually pretty inept at recognising any language that isn't English - knew that this movie was thoroughly deserving of a Best Original Screenplay nomination (although that didn't stretch to a Best Picture nomination, but "just" a Best International Feature Film nomination). And through it all, we've got Reinsve's searing performance. In a just world, she'd also be nominated (and win) Best Actress, her complicated and layered and painfully real and relatable Julie representing an entire generation of "young people" who are heading into their thirties and beyond with still no real sense of who they are or what they want to do with their lives. Julie's problems are singularly, specifically assigned to her, but they're also shared by anyone who has ever fallen in love, had their heartbroken, lost a loved one, and generally felt unsure of themselves and their place in the world. All we can do is hope that our lives potentially play out so entertainingly. The Worst Person In The World is released in Irish cinemas on Friday, 25 March. Clips via NEON