A film about a girl who lives her life given to erotic pleasures, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and directed by the always controversial Lars von Trier.
Nymphomaniac doesn’t feed us the titillation that its title might suggest. A psychological analysis. It’s not Lars von Trier’s best film (we’ll stick with Antichrist), but it’s worth watching.
By the way, Uma Thurman has a small but brilliant role.
Plot
An old man meets a wounded young woman and gives her shelter. She tells him her story of nymphomania since she was a little girl.
The Movie
Well, the first question that comes to mind is: does it shock us? It depends a lot on the viewer’s outlook and whether they spend their time watching The Smurfs and acting all respectable or watching gore movies instead. In principle, it doesn’t try to shock with its sex scenes, which are relatively light, and focuses more on the psychological side of its protagonist, who it will paint a faithful portrait of for us.
As in many Lars von Trier films, the whole shebang is set up as a voice-over and an interview between someone older and someone who is still experimenting with life. Visually, it’s much less striking than others.
It has two volumes because the whole thing ended up too long (we consider the second volume to be a little inferior to the first) and, in case your curiosity has been whipped up to a peak, there is a five and-a-half hour version that has only been seen at festivals.
Our opinion
It is a sensitive work that dwells on female sexuality and that sometimes contrasts poetry and carnality, it is very interesting in that way.
Performances: brilliant and it even has renowned actors (who will star again in other films of his).
However… it is a bit timid for the scandal it originally caused, but you know that this Dane is an expert in doing just that.
If you’re expecting something more racy… I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed, that isn’t what Nymphomaniac is about.
Movie Trailer
Image Gallery
