Sorry Baby & The Worst Person in the World: a Comparative Film Review

🎬 The Worst Person in the World dir. Joachim Trier (2021)

📍Saw at the cinema

 Counter Gaze Meter:  ★★★★★ 5/5: Reclaimed Gaze

🎬 Sorry Baby dir. Eva Victor (2025)

📍 Saw at the cinema

 Counter Gaze Meter: ★★★★★ 5/5: Reclaimed Gaze

Sorry Baby, one of my most favourite releases of this year. What a beautifully tender and captivating directorial debut for Eva Victor. Sorry Baby offers a meditation on the ways trauma keeps you stuck in motion where one has to move on to an extent to keep on living, while people around us are moving forward but you are still being held back by the incident. Despite the heavy material, the film is able to find moments of respite through humour. This film masterfully handles the balance between illustrating the process of trauma and healing from sexual violence, and humour that does not undercut the seriousness of the subject, which is a very difficult needle to thread. The director’s decision to base the viewer’s first impression of the film on the friendship between Agnes and Lydie offers a great foundation to the story as it represents a beautiful depiction of free, caring and genuine female friendship. Their friendship full of compassion carries the heart of this film and shows the importance of having a support system to help navigate life and its horrors. Eva Victor intelligently manages to denounce the issues in how sexual assault is dealt with on a systemic level through humour. Such process can be so invasive and difficult to handle as seen with the doctor being completely cold and mechanical during the consultation or the university administration being utterly useless through the comedic fodder of: we cannot do anything as your assailant is no longer under our employ (he transferred the day after the assault like the cowardly rat he is) but we understand your pain as “we are women”. Even though they are (somewhat) well-meaning institutions, as survivors it can be very hard to navigate. What is the most unique and worst thing that can happen to someone is treated as a routine matter by others. On the other hand, Victor also offers beautiful moments of pure and gentle humanity in the “chapter with the Sandwich man”. A very banal but I consider the most touching and memorable scene. Agnes is experiencing apanic attack and is comforted by a middle-aged man in a car park. This beautiful display of care illustrates how a stranger can also provide you the best comfort in your time of need. Even though trauma keeps you feeling stuck and isolated, little moments of unexpected kindness from strangers can help sooth or dull the ache for a moment. All these human interactions bear witness to the varying responses to Agnes’ assault from different genders. In some instances, she felt safe and others she was completely dismissed, and it was in those little moments of empathy or not, that stick with you.

Moreover, the depiction of sexual violence in the film is done with great intelligence and care. The story is set in a small collegiate community in the United States. Eva Victor manages to illustrate the hostility of Agnes’ environment that would be considered safe and welcoming. Through Agnes’ seemingly friendly and charming thesis’ supervisor, one realises how sinister of a predator he is, a man who takes advantage of his position of power and relishes the control he has over his students' futures. No acts of violence are shown, only narrated by the survivor which allows for the re-appropriation of the narrative. As we follow Agnes heading to the supervisor’s house where the crime is committed during daylight cut to a timelapse steady shot of the exterior of the house the audience is left waiting and imagining what could be happening. Until she leaves in a kind of stunned zombie like state back to her car to go home at night, this technique sediments the anxiety of the crime as we do not see it happen but we understand it. The fact that we do not see anything makes it even more dramatic and allows for increased horror as the audience is left to endure it by ourselves. It also reinforces how isolating it must have been for Agnes, to be so alone and scared in that moment. The sequence of following Agnes on her journey home post-assault is a rare occurence in film and offers greater context and humanity to the character, as we as the audience feel emotionally connected to her as we experience the emotions with her. It isn’t trauma porn as it resists the urge to make it palatable or inspirational, it instead focuses on her response/recovery rather than the violent act in itself.

Sorry Baby is a film full of compassion that shows how time doesn’t wait for you to sort things out, life keeps happening whether you’re ready or not. The final scene is equally devastating as it is powerful. It nails the absolute tenderness of the movie in providing the brutal reality of the potential eventuality of violence but testifies to the importance of community. The film ends on a note of hope for inner-peace and belief in strength in moving forward however long it will take and whatever form it may take. Even if it may seem counter-productive or even self-destructive to us, there is not set path to recovery. It differs according to the person, and the film leaves the viewer to simmer in the beauty of unpolished humanity.

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Sorry Baby casts no judgment on its protagonist which made me think of the Norwegian film The Worst Person in the World (2021) that I’ve just seen for the first time recently. Julie, the protagonist, is a complex character who you follow in her journey of self-discovery. It felt like a very grounded film that wrestles against the capitalist ideal of always having to be productive, having to know what we want, where we want to go and to know what’s next. This film makes us question as the viewers if Julie really is the “worst person in the world” just because of her internal restlessness, just because she hasn’t found her thing which makes it frustrating for us as the viewers. I think it’s interesting to challenge this social pressure of always having to have everything figured out at a certain age where this film allows space to show these moments of idleness that provide ground for self-discovery. Julie rebels against the typical narrative arc of a pre-determined story of finding one thing, honing it, finding the guy, settling down, marrying and kids. Going from med student, to dropping out for psychology, to wanting to be a photographer, to dabbling with ideas of being a writer, she seems to be constantly waiting for something else, yearning for more and is open to trying different things to see what fits. Julie is frustrating as she embraces the “I don’t know” stage of her life, she is sometimes unlikeable, appears sometimes a bit selfish, but she is unapologetically herself and all of her awkward life choices will ultimately lead to self-discovery and that's what makes her and this film so refreshing. She is out of synch in life’s expected rhythm and is overwhelmed with options, a sentiment that is beautifully reflected by the line “I feel like I missed a train that I didn’t realise was coming”. Julie discovers herself as a sexual woman through her lovers. Both men she dates aren’t painted as right or wrong choices, there is no hero or villain, each man represents a different life path she could have gone down on. Julie is a mid-30s woman, childless, frustrated with her own situation and is frustrated with her own partner’s lack of ambition for more. The ending of this film is a very tender moment that is not defined by a relationship but shows Julie having carved out her own space on her own terms. It is in a quiet but powerful way that she rejects external validation where the film concludes that sometimes self-discovery doesn’t always lead to a giant revelation.

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Both Sorry Baby and The Worst Person in the World illustrate how some characters can seem unlikeable and that impression can be due to various yet specific reasons or it be just plainly their nature. Julie in The Worst Person in the World is volatile, flaky, and selfish, is it un-feminist of me not to like her? Whereas many people on forums have wondered if Agnes was on the spectrum due to her quirkiness or seemingly being affectless, is that sexist as they cannot imagine a woman being unapologetically weird? They do not fit into the normative idea of on-screen women as caring, selfless, self-contained and meticulous. Both films showcase how their female characters are trying their best with the cards that have been dealt to them. Their choices are messy and sometimes frustrating as a viewer, but it reflects the reality of being human. Both stories are sedimented in chapters that I consider a very useful narrative tool as it offers “tonal resets” to both Agnes in Sorry Baby and Julie in The Worst Person in the World, like distinct short stories in their lives. This narrative style allows the story to take its time as it layers details across time, through conversation. The portrayal of the modern female woman (White western women) in these two films is super interesting as Julie keeps making the wrong decisions in our eyes and falling into a cycle as she is unsure of what to do with herself while Agnes has made great career decisions for herself but we are frustrated in her lack of confidence to leave her isolated nest. Julie and Agnes work perfectly in juxtaposition, the former is always seeking more, dissatisfied with idleness while the latter doesn’t want enough for herself and fears branching out of her comfort zone.

Julie and Agnes both resonate with each other in their solitude that is left by their life choices of trying their best with the life they have. Agnes’ trauma from her sexual assault forges her and impacts her path as she eventually progresses as a full-time professor but remains isolated and almost stuck in the same office of her assailant and the same house from her student days. Agnes starts off as confident and smart but when she realises the positive feedback she’s receiving from her mentor may be motivated by physical attraction rather than her intellectual abilities, it makes her question herself. Agnes’ assailant not only takes from her, her agency and bodily autonomy, but he also assaults her confidence as she is left to constantly second guess her achievements. The scene in which she said that her friends would describe her as “tall” after crossing out "smart" illustrates the ripple effects of trauma that is not often depicted in film. Agnes navigates and charges forward in her life in a very admirable way wherein the film gives her ample elbow room to figure out how to move on. In this sense, Agnes’ dry sense of humour is used as a defense mechanism to deflect. What some have qualified as her kookiness is in fact her coping mechanism as she attempts to coexist with her trauma. On the other hand, Julie’s strength lies in her confidence in her own capability to recover from change and risk. She is incredibly resilient, and it is seen through the decisions to change direction in her path. It is somewhat implied that Julie's life decisions are attempts to receive validation or attention from her father who does not prioritze her, but it does not fall into the usual #daddyissues plot hole. Both characters are shown wrestling against gender normative ideals of the typical trajectory for women and trying to take agency and see what they actually want for themselves. Julie’s revelation when she smiles when experiencing a miscarriage shows that she is in fact not ready or ever wants a child. When Agnes’ boy toy Gavin expresses his desires for his future in the bathtub, this serves as a realisation for her that she is unset about her own future. Agnes is still battling against the remnants of her trauma and when Gavin asserts the potential for people to change their minds about kids, this represents another moment of Agnes feeling unheard and being dismissed as he does not seek to understand Agnes' reasoning. Instead he is imposing onto Agnes a heteronormative ideal that she rejects.

Additionally, both films reverse the gaze in regard to male nudity and heterosexual sex. Julie navigates her self-discovery through her relationships and sex. The sex scenes are done in a respectful manner where there is a reversal of the gaze in her male partners being equally sexualised. Body parts of both genders are shown in not an overly objectifying way and feel authentic to the characters. In Agnes’ case, it is in a more powerful yet sad instance where she reverses the gaze and takes the power back from her sexual assault by asking to stare at her casual partner Gavin’s penis in a non-sexual instance. That scene is devastatingly powerful as by staring at it in a non-sexual moment Agnes strips the penis from all the potential harm it has caused or could cause and makes the declaration that "in this form, it's not that scary".

Lastly, what is interesting is that both films’ trailers were quite misleading as they relied on marketing their films as rom coms. But I would argue that these are actually rom-coms for people who dislike rom coms, in the way that each character chooses to react to situations in their lives might seem wrong to others, but it is authentic to them. One normally seeks escapism when watching a film but both films felt so real and yet we still gravitate towards them. You see your life through the perspective of the characters on screen which enriches one’s own perspective on life.

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Counter Gaze Meter: ★★★★★ 5/5: Reclaimed Gaze

Both of these are films are impeccable manifestations of authentic cinema. These films show us to what extent our past impacts our present. Just like Julie’s male partners phase in and out of the film, they reflect how this natural blend of what we take from our former partners and our pasts into the next stages of our lives. Agnes’ trauma sticks with her like a parasite. Over the years and the constraints of time, the trauma of her sexual assault still impacts how she navigates her life. Trier and Victor manage to communicate perfectly the wonders of mess and resilience against adversity and normative expectations. In my opinion, they are incredible depictions of women just trying their best. Surviving solely on their authenticity. Wrestling against gendered expectations, they are carving out their own space in the world on their own standards.

Both films reclaim the gaze in how they depict female sexuality, sexual violence, gendered expectations and female freedom. In the eyes of gender normative ideals, both of these women are indeed the worst people in the world as they are depicted as authentic women on-screen in all their imperfections, ugliness and "craziness". I found both films equally devastating and empowering. I left the cinema feeling like I’d been both punched in the gut and hugged in a warm embrace. I loved how they were just full of compassion and hope, I really love this type of cinema: slice of life. It doesn’t try to label itself as feminist cinema or even political. Also important to note that The Worst Person in the World is directed and written by cis-men and Sorry Baby is directed and written by Eva Victor who identifies as non-binary. I consider this as hope for a better future for cinema where cis-men can indeed create a world around a female character that doesn’t squash her down. Whether it is to be childless, a freelancer, or anything else, both films cast a poetic and compassionate light on its viewers, in a way plainly saying: it’s okay, just try your best, there is no right or wrong way. Just allow yourself some grace as it is your first and only life so try living it to the fullest as best as you can.