The Deep Focus: The Worst Person in the World is a deep dive into Joachim Trier’s landmark film guided by Alex Heeney
The Long Arc: Looking Season 1 is a 10-week program exploring the first season of HBO’s Looking, one episode a week.
Julie spends most of The Worst Person in the World trying to work out what kind of life she wants.
She changes degrees.
She changes relationships.
She keeps discovering that the life she thought she wanted no longer quite fits.
From the outside, it could look like she just can’t make up her mind.
But that’s not how it feels to watch her.
Somehow, throughout the film, we always seem to understand:
- When something in Julie’s life stops feeling like it fits
- What Julie thinks her options are
- How she feels about those options
- What she’s gravitating towards before she acts on it
- How close she is to a decision
- What choosing a different option would cost her
- And whether each choice leads somewhere better than the last
Even though she rarely explains any of it out loud — in fact, she often can’t yet explain it.
We often credit our understanding of Julie to Renate Reinsve’s extraordinary performance.
But there’s no facial expression for being 70% of the way to making up your mind.
And there’s no body position for why this choice costs so much more than that choice.
Joachim Trier’s direction has to make all of that visible.
The question is…
How does he do that?
One way is by carefully shaping what we’re invited to notice before we even look at Julie herself.
Take the first moment Julie realizes the future Aksel wants for them — having children, and soon — might not be what she wants.
While staying at a friend’s summer house where every other couple has children, she watches from outside the house as Aksel plays with their children.
It’s like a glimpse of the future Aksel wants for them.
But before Trier lets us see Julie’s face, he gives us one more perspective.
We look out at Julie from inside the house.
The window physically divides her from them.
It’s as though she’s standing outside the future Aksel imagines for them, looking in.
And then we cut back to her:
Without everything that came before, we’d have no way of knowing what’s going through her mind.
In context, it feels like Julie is admitting to herself that this future may not be hers.
And we’ve only looked at three still frames from one scene...
…where Julie realizes her life no longer fits.
We haven’t looked at how Julie moves from realizing her life doesn’t fit to actually changing it.
Or how Trier keeps us inside her experience as those choices become harder to make.
What happens when you stop treating moments like this as magic—and start understanding how they’re constructed to create that experience?
Nancy Mills, who joined a previous live session on The Worst Person in the World, described it like this:
“I feel like I have more acute vision and a better understanding of how a director influences what I get out of a film.
Before, I understood what was going on in the character’s head, but could not have said why I felt that way. I wouldn’t have been able to point to, for example, the way he moved the camera in this scene.
The live session helped me do that. I now understand how the director helped me understand what the character was going through.
And it’s made me understand it more deeply at the same time.“
The Deep Focus is where that deeper understanding begins.
Over three live sessions, we’ll slow The Worst Person in the World down until you can see exactly how Trier shapes your experience.
By the end, you’ll be able to trace some of Trier’s filmmaking choices that shaped your experience—not just describe what you felt.
And you’ll leave with a better instinct for where to look the next time a film leaves you wondering, “How did it do that?”
Here’s how we’ll build that understanding:
Each stage of Julie’s life asks something different of Trier’s filmmaking.
Each session focuses on a different stage of her life, building on what we’ve discovered before.
Session 1: Julie in her twenties
Julie changes direction three times in the film’s prologue — and each new direction feels like a better fit.
Somehow, we never lose our place in Julie’s journey. We experience every stage of the process—from realizing something no longer fits to choosing a new direction—as if we’re discovering it with her.
By the end of the session, you’ll understand how Trier keeps us with Julie through every stage of that process—and why each new direction feels like a better fit than the last.
Session 2 – Julie at 30
At 30, changing her life means leaving behind a life that’s already good.
This time, the process doesn’t unfold in minutes. It takes five chapters.
By now, you can recognize the signs that Julie is finally ready to choose. And when they finally return, you’ll understand why it took her five chapters to get there.
But we’ll spend most of this session asking something new: how does Trier keep us connected to Julie as she gradually moves away from one life—and towards another?
By the end, you’ll understand how Trier keeps us with Julie through every step of that gradual process—and why freezing time is the final step between being ready and making the choice.
Session 3 – Julie after 30
Until now, every problem could be solved by moving towards something new.
Suddenly, she doesn’t know where to go next.
We’ll use everything we’ve uncovered so far to understand how Trier makes us experience Julie’s paralysis — and how we know when she eventually starts to get unstuck.
By the end of the session, you’ll understand why the ending resonates so deeply—not just because of what happens, but because of how Trier has built every moment leading up to it.
What does it feel like to spend three weeks with one film?
Hazel S. has done this with me three times, using three different films. This is how she describes it:
“It’s really effective to have Alex play a film, stop it every 20 seconds, and then we chat.
It’s a really good way of actually looking at how something’s put together, how it works, and what it’s doing.
That’s something this format really gives you that you can’t quite get going to the cinema and having a coffee with friends after.
We come back within the month and have another talk about it, and something that someone said before can unlock something… the first discussion can feed into a rewatch… and then you pick out different things.
You might watch the film again and talk about it again, and it just gets richer and deeper.
Outside of academia, I just don’t think you really get that invitation to really spend time digging in.
When Alex has already picked out key points where a lot is happening with the blocking or the camera movement or something, it really helps you pay attention to those things when you’re seeing them elsewhere in the film — and in other films, too.“
In case we haven’t met yet — I’m Alex Heeney: film critic, educator, and Joachim Trier scholar.
I’ve been studying Trier’s work for more than a decade — and now writing a book about his work.
During the live sessions, you’ll often hear me say:
Pay attention to this…
Hold onto that…
Let’s think about this…
Now connect it to what we saw earlier…
What changes?
I’ve already spent years figuring out where the richest discoveries are—and what questions unlock them.
My job is to put the right scenes in front of you, in the right order, with the right questions, so that each discovery unlocks the next.
As featured in…
After a previous Deep Focus, one participant wrote:
“The live sessions were given a great deal of thought.
Alex had already spent a lot of time with the films, analyzing the excerpts we looked at in depth.
She shared those insights while also holding space for the contributions of the participants.
Repeated viewings of sequences with and without sound allowed time to digest and discover.”
– N. Graham, participant in The Deep Focus: Oslo, August 31st, USA
Join us for The Deep Focus: The Worst Person in the World.
Sunday Cohort
August 2, August 9, August 16
2:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 a.m. PT / 7:30 p.m. UK
Tuesday Cohort
August 4, August 11, August 18
7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT / Fridays 7:30 a.m. AEST
Each cohort is capped at eight participants.Reserve your place
Save your seat:
Two access/concessions seats available — details in the FAQ.
FAQs
How long is each session?
Each session is 90 minutes and happens on Zoom.
We’ll start right on time, as we will need all 90 minutes!
How many people will there be?
There are two cohorts, each capped at 8 people.
What if I’m worried I won’t know what to say?
The point here isn’t to show up with insights to share; it’s to look again and discover something new together.
That’s why we’ll rewatch key scenes together in short enough chunks that you can really pay attention — and I’ll guide your attention with specific things to look for as we go.
Sometimes I’ll ask you to:
- Pay attention to when a door opens or closes.
- Notice where Julie looks.
- Keep an eye on when and how she breathes.
- Ignore Julie for a moment and watch what the camera does instead.
You won’t be expected to have a fully formed insight every time you speak.
Questions, half-formed observations, and building on someone else’s idea are all part of how we think together.
In fact, listening is part of the work — to really hear what other people are saying, not just to wait your turn to speak.
Because when you listen to other people — and look again at specific moments in the film together — you discover something new that you didn’t walk in already knowing or thinking.
“I was nervous about stepping in and discussing things that I didn’t know much about. In the end, the atmosphere was accepting and welcoming, so I felt free to join in quite a bit.”
— Sarah Vincent, participant in several one-off live sessions
“The folks who join (in my experience) are overwhelmingly present/curious and not just there to sound smart.”
— Michael Borek, Reel Ruminators Member, USA
But will I actually belong? I’ve been in spaces that are accepting on paper but aren’t really in practice.
A lot of spaces say they’re welcoming on paper — and then once you’re inside, you realize you still have to brace yourself, translate yourself, or decide whether it feels worth speaking up.
That’s not what I want for The Deep Focus.
I’m a cis white woman with an invisible disability. I know what it’s like to move through some spaces feeling like I don’t quite fit. I also know I have blind spots.
Creating a genuinely welcoming space takes more than saying “everyone’s welcome” and hoping for the best.
It means being thoughtful about how the room is held, being clear about expectations, listening when something isn’t landing, and paying attention to how people are actually experiencing the space — not just how I intended it to feel.
My hope for The Deep Focus is that it feels like a space where you can show up as you are, bring your own relationship to the work, and trust that curiosity and care matter more than performing expertise.
I want The Deep Focus to be a space where people can think out loud, disagree generously, notice different things, and still feel respected and at ease.
And if something feels off, I want to know.
Because the goal isn’t just “inclusive” on paper.
It’s to create a space where people actually feel welcome once they’re inside.
What if I miss a session?
The expectation is that we’ll all do our best to show up live — while also being human.
Life happens. Travel happens. Energy crashes. Totally normal.
Every session is recorded, and if you miss one, I ask that you catch up on the recording before the following session so everyone returns with the same shared context.
But this probably isn’t the right fit if you already know you’re unlikely to make more than one live session or keep up with the recordings.
A big part of what makes this work is everyone returning with the same shared context — and building on what we noticed together week to week.
The Group Space (our async forum) also stays open between sessions, so you can reflect, share, and continue the conversation — even if you couldn’t be there in real time.
Do I need to watch The Worst Person in the World beforehand?
Technically, you could come to the first session without having seen the film as we will only cover the prologue.
However, I recommend watching it before we begin if you haven’t seen it already. If you have, you don’t need to rewatch it before we begin.
How do I watch The Worst Person in the World?
If you’re in Canada, it’s streaming on Crave and Paramount Plus — or you can buy it on VOD/DVD/Blu-ray.
In the US, it’s streaming on Tubi and Kanopy, and available to rent/buy on AppleTV or Prime Video — or you can buy it on DVD/Blu-ray.
In the UK, it’s streaming on Mubi, and available to rent/buy on VOD.
If you’re elsewhere, you can check where it’s streaming — or available to rent or buy on VOD — here.
And if you’d rather not track it down yourself, I will mail you the Blu-ray or DVD of the film. Make sure you leave 3-5 business days for shipping!
You can add this option to your order from your cart for $75 USD.
I can do that for folks in the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe (as long as English subtitles work for you). In North America, it will be the Criterion release; in the UK/Europe it will be the Mubi release.
Where will everything happen?
On a platform called Circle. If you haven’t used it before, it’s great! One login for everything, a clean UX, and an app you can download on your phone.
The live sessions will be hosted on Zoom because it’s still the best platform for it. All you need is a free account.
When is the cut-off for joining?
24 hours before the start date of the first live session in your cohort or when it fills — whichever comes first!
What if I can’t afford the full price?
If the full price would make it hard or impossible to join — especially due to disability, chronic illness, care responsibilities, uncertain employment or systemic barriers — the access rate is here for you.
I’ve set aside two access-priced seats in each round of The Deep Focus — available at:
- $$148.5 upfront (50% off)
- $103.95/month for 2 months (30% off)
There’s no application and no need to explain your circumstances.
If this applies to you, just email me at contact@seventh-row.com and let me know you’d like one of the access seats.
Spots are first-come, first-served. This is one way I’m working to make sure the space reflects the richness of our wider communities — while also keeping it sustainable for me as the facilitator.
What if I change my mind — is there a refund policy?
Sometimes, something looks right on the surface, but doesn’t feel right once you’re inside.
If you register and find The Deep Focus isn’t for you, you’re welcome to request a full refund any time before the first live session.
After that point, I don’t offer refunds — both because the real-time content is a huge part of the experience and because you’ll have access to one-third of the program.
My hope is that this gives you space to dip your toes in and trust that you’ll know if it’s the right fit.
I have another question…
Great! Send me an email at contact@seventh-row.com, and I’ll get back to you ASAP. Messy thought dumps are always welcome!