When your movie is called Nymphomaniac and is all about the unadulterated sex life of a woman, and – this is the important bit – will actually have an explicit, hardcore pornographic version, marketing becomes a problem. You might start off small, subtly turning grammatical symbols into dirty thoughts, but let’s face it, eventually you’re just going to ask your massive ensemble cast to strip down to their birthday suits, get all sweaty and pull their best “O” faces for the camera.
Which is exactly what controversial auteur Lars Von Trier has gone and done. (Warning: This may be a little NSFW.)
Why thank you, Stellan Skarsgard, I always like to start my Friday morning with the fresh taste of vomit in my mouth. Also, you can stop trying to look cool Shia LaBeouf, we all see you scratching your armpit.
The two-part, five hour long Nymphomaniac will get its first release in Trier’s home country of Denmark on December 25 (there’s a dirty joke there about Christmas coming early, but I’m rather going to leave it), before making its debut at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. It’s still not yet confirmed if the hardcore version (which features extra scenes shot with body doubles showing full penetrative sex) will be the one seen at Cannes or not, but you can almost be certain that it won’t be showing up at your local cinema any time soon.
“Nymphomaniac” is the wild and poetic story of a woman’s erotic journey from birth to the age of 50 as told by the main character, the self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg). On a cold winter’s evening the old, charming bachelor, Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), finds Joe beaten up in an alleyway. He brings her home to his flat where he tends to her wounds while asking her about her life. He listens intently as Joe over the next 8 chapters recounts the lushly branched-out and multi faceted story of her life, rich in associations and interjecting incidents.
Last Updated: October 11, 2013
NecroRince
October 11, 2013 at 09:38
Erm… Okay?
Admiral Chief of Rivia
October 11, 2013 at 10:27
O_O
Gustav Willem Diedericks
October 11, 2013 at 10:27
Nothing like making a porn movie and calling it art. Riiight
James Francis
October 11, 2013 at 11:48
That’s rather unfair. There is a big difference between porn and erotica – even hardcore stuff like 9 Songs or Baise Moi. Considering everything with explicit sex as porn is to assume all beef is steak.
Gustav Willem Diedericks
October 11, 2013 at 14:19
I don’t know, man. Both are there to get your rocks off in the end. Just because you give it another label, try different camera angles and have peolpe that can actually act in the movie doesn’t make any real difference. Just like beef and steak: you might eat a different cut with a slightly differenty taste, porbably even different seasoning, but in the end it’s still beef.
James Francis
October 11, 2013 at 14:27
Thing is, you can cook a stew all you want, it will never be steak. And it’s also not fair to say these films are only there to get your rocks off. Many are an exploration of sexual themes. It’s not as if every violent movie is just about seeing people get hurt.
Gustav Willem Diedericks
October 11, 2013 at 15:08
Yes, but does it need to be explicit? You can explore the same themes without going full frontal nudity.
James Francis
October 11, 2013 at 16:18
You can make Robocop without blowing off Peter Weller’s hand. But the the movie would suck.
Gustav Willem Diedericks
October 11, 2013 at 17:14
True, but violence cannot be suggested, sex on the other hand can. Plus you also don’t need to go into blowing more than just Peter’s hand off. If you did that the whole message falls flat, i.e. the violence becomes too distracting. To me that is the same with sex: insinuate without show much and you make your point, give the full monty and the sex becomes so distracting that the message gets lost.
James Francis
October 11, 2013 at 11:47
And Udo Kier wins!