Danish-born Norwegian writer-director Joachim Trier’s existential tragicomedy opened to rave reviews in Cannes last year and has since garnered international awards recognition, including Oscar nominations for original screenplay (with regular co-writer Eskil Vogt) and international feature film. Described by Trier as “a coming-of-age film for grownups who feel like they still haven’t grown up”, it continues the director’s cinematic love affair with the Norwegian capital, previously explored in Reprise and Oslo, August 31st, with which this forms a loose trilogy. Blending melancholy wistfulness with unruly energy and piercing humour, it’s a down-to-earth tale of love and death, boosted by a brilliantly believable central performance and elevated by fantastical moments of hallucinogenic horror and ecstatic joy.
Cannes best actress winner Renate Reinsve is a revelation as Julie, a potential high-achiever with an aversion to “seeing things through”, whose life goals are a moving target – personal, professional and romantic. On the surface, she enjoys freedoms that her predecessors could never have imagined, forever reinventing herself as she searches for a persona that fits her psyche. Yet while 21st-century social mobility may have rewritten the rules of social engagement, the expectation of finding “success” in love remains oppressively omnipresent, heightened by the impending spectre of Julie’s 30th birthday. Is her ideal partner out there waiting for her? Has she already blown her chances of happiness? And what happens when two perfectly matched people’s paths cross just as their respective timelines diverge?
