The Worst Person in the World Star Renate Reinsve is Having The Best Year Ever
The day before Renate Reinsve’s life changed, she swore she would give up acting for good. “It sounds silly, but I was going to learn carpentry,” says the Norwegian native, who has been performing since she was a child, from a New York City hotel room. “I had renovated a house and was very good at it. It’s meditative and creative but very concrete. It was kind of a break from thoughts.”
That break wouldn’t last long. Soon enough Joachim Trier—the director who had previously cast Reinsve in a small role in his award-winning Oslo, August 31st—offered the 34-year-old actress her first leading role. “He didn’t have a script ready, he just had an idea,” she says. “Of course I said yes.”
It’s a good thing she did. The resulting film, The Worst Person in the World—an intelligent, emotional story (in American theaters now) about a young woman’s journey to find herself—has become an awards season darling, winning Reinsve the Best Actress award at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival and becoming Norway’s Academy Award entry for Best International Feature. It also landed its leading lady in the front row during Paris Fashion Week.
“When we made the movie, we tried to be honest about the tragic aspects of being human,” she says. “We made it as complex as we could, but it’s just a small film from Norway, so we didn’t expect it to blow up.” Does the fact that it has mean Reinsve has put carpentry on hold? She pauses and smiles. “It will have to wait for a little bit.”
Photographs by BJARNE X TAKATA
Styled by MaryKate Boylan
Hair by Kiyonori Sudo for R+Co
Makeup by Paco Blancas for Nars
Nails by Aki Hirayama for Evolvetogether at TraceyMattingly.com.
Set design by Logan Russell Taylor
This story appears in the March issue of Town & Country. Subscribe Now.
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