For the past decade plus, Lars Von Trier has been making movies about irony, misery, sexuality, and violence. Generally they’re all intertwined, and sometimes they have a sly wit to them. These movies have proven to be controversial, with many saying they’re works of genius while others claim they’re the works of a diseased mind.
Von Trier really made his name as a cheeky devil with the Danish television miniseries Riget (The Kingdom)and its follow up Riget II. Set in a hospital, Riget weaved a tale of horror, mythology, and black humor that remains unmatched in terms of sheer what the fuckery. Each episode would conclude with Lars dressed in a red suit underneath the credits delivering a tongue-in-cheek speech to implore you to come back next time.
With Nymphomaniac, it seems that Lars Von Trier has returned to his cheeky postmodern bastard persona. Nymphomaniac is Lars on Lars, essentially. The movie opens with an older gentleman, Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), discovering a badly beaten Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) in an alley. He takes her home to help her recover from the beating. Throughout the night, Joe tells Seligman her life story through her sexuality, as she has defined her life through her sexuality, an obvious comment on how we see women as sexual beings, and if they possess their sexuality they are considered to be corrupt.
In the Director’s Cut, the scenes between Seligman and Joe tend to alternate who is the Lars surrogate. The whole overarching story seems less like Lars duking it out with his critics than it seems like Lars is duking it out with himself. Seligman, for example, makes comments about Nazis and Jews, recalling the drubbing that Lars received when he made comments about the Nazis at Cannes a few years back. At other times, Joe is the Lars surrogate as she is the storyteller and creator, constantly trying to egg on Seligman by saying how naughty she was. In the end, it almost plays out like an episode of Herman’s Head, where both of them are metaphors for Lars trying to deal with his own depression and happiness, especially through sexuality.
The theatrical cut of Nymphomanic runs a mere 4 hours total, while the Director’s Cut runs 5.5 hours total. Some of the running time is indeed dedicated to even more scenes of unsimulated sex. There are scenes of fellatio with an actual graphic finale. The extended version of The Little Organ School is glorious, and should not be missed. In the second half, the violence gets a bit more brutal and it includes a graphic depiction of a self-done abortion. Much like his other films, the graphic nature of the scene is still fodder for discussion on its appropriateness, and whether it was intended to be misogynistic or anti-choice in its nature. However, the bulk of the content in the extended editions is more of Seligman and Joe, emphasizing the commentary of Lars on Lars.
If you’re going to watch Nymphomaniac, watch the Director’s Cut. Lars has got his groove back, and figured out how to make a comedy again. It’s, ultimately, Von Trier’s lightest and funniest work since Riget. And, really, the additional 90 minutes do add a depth to the film that needs to be seen to be believed.
Bonus Features
The bonus features of the regular Blu Ray are maintained from the original Magnolia release. An AXS TV featurette; interviews about The Characters, The Director, and the Sex Scenes; and trailers are the featured extras.