Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin
Beaten and bleeding in an alleyway, a woman named Joe (Maja Arsovic, Ananya Berg, Gainsbourg, Martin, Ronja Rissman) is found and given refuge by a soft-spoken intellectual by the name of Seligman (Skarsgård). Unconvinced by Joe's rants of self-loathing, Seligman comes to hear the long story of a life lived in lust and addiction, leading to her situation.
There's probably no-one in modern cinema quite as notorious for causing controversy as Lars Von Trier. A man who has made extremely provocative work and has made some equally shocking statements (such as when he declared he was Nazi at Cannes, a joke but one that it says something that a lot of people took it at face value). The thing about Nymphomaniac is, as technically accomplished as the film is, given Von Trier's ability to shock, Nymphomaniac is actually rather tame.
Okay, so there is nudity of a rather plentiful amount, but those expecting an all-out smutfest may be surprised on how much more of an emphasis there is on the dramatic aspect of the film, which is an asset. Charlotte Gainsbourg and Stellan Skarsgård make for two engaging leads (Skarsgård in particular is in fine form) as the film winds its way through multiple chapters that divide the film whilst incorporating comparisons with topics ranging from religion to fly-fishing. The film may be publicising itself on its visual power, but its the writing of Nymphomaniac that stands as its true strength.
The film seems to be set in the UK, but what's on screen appears to be some strange UK/Continental hybrid. The cast springs from many varied places; Anglo-French Charlotte Gainsbourg, Swedish Stellan Skarsgård, English Jamie Bell and several American actors (Willem Defoe, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman) all in their natural accents but with Shia LaBoeuf giving a really odd attempt at an English accent that seems already on the way to a Dick Van Dyke level of poor mockney.
Encompassing a number of years, Nymphomaniac has a wide scope that is well-managed and although some of the points that Von Trier makes are (unsurprisingly) controversial, they're also articulately put across although the debate about the gender double-standard when it comes to promiscuity (i.e: men playing the field is admirable, women doing the same is terrible) is way too tired and it goes without saying that the film's sheer length alone can be seen as endurance test to some. A film of mixed success as it is, Nymphomaniac is flawed in its perceptions and execution, but the film has enough intrigue, visual merit and amusing dark humour to at least be seem as a credible film.
Next time, a young girl in Nazi Germany discovers a love of reading and comes to the aid of a Jew seeking sanctuary in The Book Thief.
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