Nymphomaniac – Vol I
Director: Lars von Trier
Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin
118 mins; Class 18; KRS

Auteur and provocateur Lars von Trier has been courting controversy throughout his career, and his latest, Nymphomaniac, does not disappoint. The four-hour film is being distributed in two parts internationally, and as has been over-excitedly reported, the films contain very graphic depictions of sexuality as never seen before in a mainstream release.

So, let’s get the pressing question out of the way: is it as graphic as has been sold? Oh yes, indeed. Is it pornography? Well, the Oxford English Dictionary defines pornography as “printed or visual material intended to stimulate sexual excitement”. There is little excitement to be had while watching Nymphomaniac, for it makes for some very uncomfortable viewing.

Seeing it all in context it all makes plenty of sense

Few scenes are handled delicately as, for the most part, Von Trier adopts a no-holds-barred approach, giving in certain situations a literal meaning to ‘in-your-face’.

It is always provocative, often clinical, rarely titillating. However, the film itself is so much more than that, that it would be unfair to rate it purely on its sexual content.

This is a film about a severely-damaged woman; a woman who, by her own description, is “just a bad human being”. When we first meet Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) she is lying badly beaten in an alley where she is discovered by a kindly man, Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård), who takes her in. As he takes care of her, she narrates her story, telling him that she is a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, with an obsession with sex which started at a young age.

As personified by Charlotte Gainsbourg, the older Joe is weary and introspective; her narration clear and matter-of-fact; oftentimes funny. This is Gainsbourg’s third film with Von Trier, and the actress once more delivers a profound and mesmerising performance from within.

Joe undertakes a sort of mental dance with Seligman. He listens with close attention as she leads, asking her a question here or offering an interpretation of an event there.

He heightens the conversation by finding allegories to Joe’s tale in topics as diverse as fly-fishing, music, literature, the Fibonacci sequence of numbers, and whether the use of a cake fork by a man is manly. Incongruent, for sure, but seeing it all in context it all makes plenty of sense.

The younger Joe is played with a carefree disregard for prudishness by newcomer Stacy Martin, who portrays Joe a young teen. It is a startling debut from an unknown who takes on such a sexually-charged part with consummate ease. She embodies Joe’s emotional complexities as she sails through her teen and young adult years with a series of partners on a path of self-destruction.

Joining the main protagonists are a list of well-known names, who, although they appear briefly, give committed performances. There’s Christian Slater’s poignant portrayal of Joe’s beloved father; Shia LaBoeuf as Joe’s first lover who flits in and out of her life and a scene-stealing Uma Thurman as the spurned wife of one of Joe’s lovers.

The film is structured in chapters detailing Joe’s life as she grows older, streamlining the narrative into a cohesive whole; highlighting Von Trier’s erudite and engaging dialogue, character exposition and penchant for balancing dark themes with a lightness of touch.

It all looks gorgeous too – once the story leaves the confines of Seligman’s apartment– starting from the long opening shot of a rain-drenched alley where our protagonist is discovered, to some delightful, and at times erotic, imagery speckled throughout which serves to illustrate Joe’s story.

You may ask, who is Joe really? And to what end does she live this sexually-filled but emotionally empty life? I can’t answer that as yet, for needless to say, Volume I offers more questions than answers, so one hopes that Volume II will resolve many issues.

Till then, I award the film a tentative four stars, to be revisited once Joe’s vivid, fascinating story comes to an end.

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