Nymphomaniac
Director: Lars von Trier
Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Shia LaBeouf,
Length: 118 minutes
Country: Denmark
In Lars von Trier’s 1998 satire The Idiots, the characters pretend to be mentally retarded in a series of anarchic pranks that aimed to provoke reactions and challenge the social order. Just like his characters, von Trier often appears in the role of the idiot, who will not behave as is expected or conform to societal discourse. This is demonstrated in the publicity images of himself with his mouth sealed with tape signalling his vow of silence after the furore that greeted his misperceived comments at the Cannes Film Festival three years ago.
Now, after the despair of Antichrist and Melancholia, he returns to the mischievous spirit of The Idiots in what is arguably his greatest film so far: an erotic odyssey of lust and desire that encapsulates his major themes, character types and even imitating scenes explored in his previous films, and interweaves them into an ambitious, widely inventive, and original work of tremendous depth, breadth and complexity that demands repeat viewings. But Nymphomaniac is also, weirdly, von Trier’s most accessible offering for years: richly layered, visually diverse, and funny and shocking in equal measure.
Divided into two roughly two-hour volumes, the tantalisingly titled Nymphomaniac tells the story of the troubled and beaten Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), who is found in an alleyway by the gentle Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) and so begins a four-hour conversation about her erotic journey from birth to the age of 50. Both volumes are blunt and direct in their portrayal of sex and sexuality, featuring explicit unsimulated sex scenes and nudity that are less eye-wateringly graphic than rumour suggested. Body doubles were utilised and the actors were persuaded to take part in digitally modified coitus, with the end result looking smooth and seamless.
Nymphomaniac is also, weirdly, von Trier’s most accessible offering for years: richly layered, visually diverse, and funny and shocking in equal measure.
In Volume One, the audience follows young Joe (played by Stacey Martin) in the midst of sexual discovery. In her words, she is “discovering her cunt!” and desires to explore the complexities of her sexuality and her physique. Whilst you are never really given a reason as to why she has become a nymphomaniac, you are right from the opening shot immersed into the diegesis and become fully engrossed in Joe’s story. Despite its shocking content, Volume One is full of playfulness and is at times extremely funny. Uma Thurman, particularly, stands out as Mrs. H, a neurotic wronged-wife who demands Joe to let her children see the “whoring bed” of her and her husband: she plays the role with such believability and authenticity that the entire chapter is both awkwardly hilarious and upsetting to watch.
However, Volume Two is without a doubt the significantly better half; it is much more darker and graphically unpleasant, featuring heavy doses of S&M and abject horror, all of which is unsettling to the eye. At times, it is hard to watch, particularly the sequences involving Jamie Bell, as the icily terrifying ‘K’ who subjects Joe to episodes of sexual pleasure via BDSM that is unflinching and brutal to watch.
The performances are a mix bag: Charlotte Gainsbourg gives a similar performance to that depicted in Antichrist, whilst Stacey Martin is somewhat a revelation in her first film role, playing Joe with such innocence and intellect enabling us to sympathise with her, whilst, at the same time, feel disgusted at some of her actions. Ironically, the most controversial, and indeed annoying, aspect was Shia LaBeouf’s accent, which veers from northern to southern England, to Australian and ends up at one point becoming indistinguishable to follow. He was sorely miscast as Jerome and you could almost sense that he was overwhelmed with the complexity of the role.
Unusually, Nymphomaniac is von Trier’s most feminist film to date, a notion that is overtly cemented in the last ten minutes of Volume Two that even caused some of the audience to cheer and clap with joy and relief. You can almost sense that von Trier is responding to his detractors, making up for the controversies caused in his previous films; controversies centred on the notions of disability, racism, sexuality, and misogyny. All themes of which are integral to the narrative of Nymphomaniac and are inherently explored through the presentation of two sides for every discussion in nuanced, thought-provoking ways. Joe is independent, always in control of her body and exercises free will. She chooses to have sex with men and, ironically, is the very thing that is unable to satisfy her. Von Trier portrays Joe as being full of warmth and vulnerability, explicitly contrasting her with the cold and clinical settings and minimalistic mise-en-scene displayed in almost every beautifully composed scene of the colossal saga. Highly recommended.
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