Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
The chronicles of 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.
Joachim Trier's Norwegian gem is a remarkably fresh and intimate portrait of modern young womanhood. Renate Reinsve delivers a luminous, prize-winning performance that grounds every tonal shift — from whimsy to heartbreak — with complete authenticity. Kasper Tydal's cinematography is elegant and inventive, with the freeze-frame running sequence becoming an instantly iconic image. The film's novelty lies in its chapter-based structure and its ability to blend sharp comedy, romantic longing, and genuine grief into something wholly distinctive and Norwegian yet universally resonant. The plot, while episodic by design, occasionally meanders in its middle chapters, and the ending, while emotionally earned, resolves with a melancholy quietness that feels slightly deflating after the film's more electric earlier passages.