When The Worst Person in the World premiered at Cannes this past year, audiences were blown away. It follows four years in the life of Julie (Renate Reinsve) a Norwegian woman who struggles with her identity, her career, and her love life. Not only is the film funny, sad, and beautiful, it is revolutionary. What Annie Hall did for the romantic comedy in the 1970s, The Worst Person in the World does for the contemporary rom-com. It shows how the genre can flout convention and find humor in even the darkest of circumstances. It represents the best of contemporary Scandinavian filmmaking, but for those who are left unsatisfied by a mere 2 hours of perfection, here are ten more Scandinavian classics to enjoy.
The Square
Another Scandinavian feature that wowed at Cannes, this Swedish classic walked away with the Palme d'Or. The Square tells the story of a prestigious Stockholm museum’s chief art curator (Claes Bang) who is in the midst of a personal and professional crisis as he attempts to set up a new art exhibit called “The Square”. Many might think that a Palme d’Or winning movie by a European auteur would be pretentious and slow, but that is not the case. Director Ruben Östlund hilariously lampoons the frivolity and stupidity of the often over-hyped art world with grace and somewhat malevolent delight. If you loved Renate Reinsve's biting humor as Julie in The Worst Person in the World, then this is the film for you.
Another Round
Above all else, The Worst Person in the World is a story about how there is no one way to achieve happiness and even later in life, you can find a new kind of fulfillment in the wildest places. This is also the story of Another Round. The film begins when four high school teachers, bored by their routines, decide to launch an experiment. They will uphold a constant low level of intoxication to see if their lives improve. With a cast led by the legendary Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal), the movie guides us into a whirlwind of immense joy and unbelievable pain. This is not a film that tries to find solutions for the world’s problems but instead demonstrates that even when you are at your lowest, you can always have a drink and dance.
Turn Me On, Dammit!
This Norwegian coming of age story is the perfect choice for an easy night in. Turn Me On, Dammit! follows Alma, a young, sex-obsessed girl who faces a crisis when she reveals that the most popular boy in school came on to her. When he promptly denies it, she becomes a social pariah. For a film that contains constant depictions of masturbation, drug use, and gross humor, it is surprisingly wholesome. Even in the oddest of places, you can find humanity like when Alma’s regular phone sex operator offers heartfelt advice or her friends make a funny song out of her vulgar nickname. They may be different ages but Alma and Julie share a determined, smart, funny, and sex-positive personality that is infectious and inspirational.
Fanny & Alexander
A list of Scandinavian films, no matter what the criteria, cannot be complete without Ingmar Bergman and this is one of his most unexpected and spell-binding films. Fanny & Alexander follows two young children who live a happy life surrounded by their actor relatives until their mother marries a strict and unloving bishop. Bergman crafts a coming of age story that immediately sucks you in whether it be the moments of familial belonging or the isolation of a cold parent. A semi-autobiographical tale, it feels like a snapshot of his own memories but still does not make its audience feel uncomfortable and intrusive. This and The Worst Person in the World should be forever praised for their ability to intertwine loss with fart humor.
Oslo, August 31st
Before director Joachim Trier impressed audiences across the world with The Worst Person in the World, he made his mark in Norway with Oslo, August 31st. The second film in his Oslo Trilogy captures the city like no other film could. It tells the story of Anders (Anders Danielsen Lie), a recovering drug addict, who briefly leaves his treatment center in order to see his friends and take a job interview in the city. Like his most recent feature, Trier creates a sympathetic but realistic portrait of this group of friends with career-high performances. If you want to see how Trier has evolved as a filmmaker or even how Oslo has changed within ten years, this makes for an interesting companion piece.
Show Me Love
Elin is an outgoing girl who is constantly trying to prove how experienced she is with boys. Agnes is a precocious girl who is often the subject of the school’s jokes. Together, they form an unlikely pair when they slowly fall for each other. Because of its storyline and tone, Show Me Love is definitely ahead of its time. Today, there are many movies and shows that display the heartbreak and humor of being a young gay person like Love, Simon and Booksmart. In 1998, however, this Swedish flick was in a class of its own. These girls are not always likable, and they sometimes make incomprehensible decisions, but they always remain familiar and lovable. For a similar romantic comedy hinging on a tentative but beautiful romance, this is a perfect option.
In A Better World
This Danish feature is often hard to watch but never stops being compelling. In A Better World follows two families as their sons become angrier, leading to more dangerous behavior. Just as The Worst Person in the World examines how socio-political issues like climate change affect our day-to-day relationships, this movie shows how the growing global isolation and inability to stomp out greedy politicians or evil warlords causes endemic problems within the family. In this Oscar-winning film, director Susanne Bier creates a world chock-full of characters and somehow gives depth to all of them. At times, they are weak and unkind and at others self-sacrificing and sympathetic. With great performances from actors like Mikael Persbrandt (Sex Education), it is one of the best movies to win the Foreign Language Oscar.
My Life As A Dog
Before Lasse Hallström made waves in the United States with popular movies like Chocolat and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, he made one of Scandinavia’s greatest coming of age features. It follows a young boy who is sent to live with his aunt and uncle. Like Julie in The Worst Person in the World, our young protagonist, Ingemar, struggles with his identity. Ingemar identifies with the poor and unfortunate and adapts his personality to whoever needs him most. From this character, Hallström creates a very sentimental and funny movie that celebrates not just Ingemar’s triumphs but everyone around him. A favorite of the prominent author Kurt Vonnegut, this movie is quiet but effective.
Insomnia
Many of the films on this list show the everyday drama and comedy of Scandinavian individuals. Insomnia is an entirely different case. For those that were attracted to the dark underpinnings of The Worst Person in the World which criticized the seemingly perfect Norwegian society, this is the film to see. It tells the story of a Swedish detective who is assigned to investigate a murder in a Norwegian town where it is never dark and the intrusive all-seeing eye of the fog-filled daylight that haunts him. Stellan Skarsgård gives a tour de force performance in this gritty neo-noir and rightfully earned himself some of the best reviews of his career. The movie put Norwegian cinema on the map and was even remade in 2002 by lauded director Christopher Nolan.
Persona
While The Worst Person in the World deals beautifully with the question of a young adult woman’s identity, the best movie on the subject remains Persona. The second film on the list to be directed by Ingmar Bergman, the movie follows Alma (Bibi Andersson), a nurse, as she is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler (Liv Ullmann), an actress who seems healthy but refuses to speak. Slowly, Alma reveals her secrets to her but then realizes that Elisabeth is not so innocent. The two women’s personalities begin to evolve and unite in this psychological piece that questions the concept of identity itself. This is quite possibly Bergman’s most revolutionary work and the two lead actresses make every monologue or moment of silence a thrill to watch.