Movie Review : Nymphomaniac (2013)
I'm a good audience in general because I'm good-natured and easily entertained. The average qualiy of high budget theatrical releases is, admittedly, dipping to spectacular new lows, but if there is a fool to find the silver lining in mediocre movies, it's me. It doesn't mean I can't recognize standout filmmaking when it's right up in my grill, though. I've been a Lars Von Trier fan since the day I forgave him about The Idiots and his films haven't let me down ever since. Von Trier, like most arthouse directors, is an acquired taste, but his mere presence in the high profile filmmaking landscape is a testament to the undying strength of artistic integrity. Even today, there are writers and directors who refuse to compromise their vision in order to make more people happy. Von Trier's two parts epic of sexual discovery Nymphomaniac was clocking in at over 5 hours in theaters, but it was formatted into a 4 hours object for our home viewing pleasure. If LVT was shedding the cobwebs of depression in Melancholia, he was in tip-top shape when he wrote Nymphomaniac, ladies and gentlemen!
Joe (the wonderful Charlotte Gainsbourg)) was lying in the street unconscious, her face bruised and swollen, when she was found by Seligman (the equally great Stellan Skarsgard), an old and lonely man going through his daily routine. Seligman brings her home, offers her shelter and company, so Joe rewards his kindness by telling him the story of how she ended up there. Their encounter was cosmic event. Joe needed someone to talk to and Seligman needed a companion to break his solitude. Joe is no damsel in distress though. The story she has to tell is going to drag him in and brush him off a couple times. She is a nymphomaniac. She was born with a vampire-like taste for sex. It's the one variable that guided all her life. The story of how she ended up on Seligman's street is tragic, provocative, insane, erotic and beautiful and since Lars Von Trier is awesome, he gave us 4 hours of that in Nymphomaniac.
Let's address the elephant in the room first: the sex. Yes, there is a loooot of fucking in Nymphomaniac and no, it's not a visually predominant variable. It's not beautiful, steamy sex but it's not internet-porn freaky sex either. I might be wrong, but I think you see sperm only once (but it is a memorable scene). It's probably no better or worse than what you look like when you're having sex. There is a lot of flesh, but nothing to balk about if you keep an open mind. Yes, you see what I believe to be Shia LaBeouf's penis in Nymphomaniac, but the scene is so original and ambiguous it'll pry a smile from you. LaBeouf is, by the way, not all that bad in this movie. He's a tiny cog in a giant machine and he knows how to act within well-defined parameters. What you need to know about Nymphomaniac is that it's about more than sex. It's about how can human existence be about more than our lowest reproductive instincts and it makes its point rather beautifully.
To me, what made Nymphomaniac so special was the discussions between Joe and Seligman. The old man's relentless efforts to put Joe's sex life in perspective also affect the viewer's perspective about the Great Taboo of Female Sexuality. Seligman symbolized the other side of human pleasure: cognition, the capacity of drawing links between everything in the universe and appreciate how everything has been divinely put in its rightful place. Neither Joe and Seligman have the complete portrait of existence, so it was important in the divine order of things that they met and that their respective visions of the world clashed. Nymphomaniac is about passion versus cognition, reproduction versus reflexion. It's a majestic portrait of the human condition drawn by Lars Von Trier.
Another topic of debate about Nymphomaniac is the quality of part 2 versus the quality of part 1. A lot of viewers said they had been ''let down'' by part 2. The issue here is that part 2 deals with less original content as Joe becomes restless with her own sexuality and explores darker options. Part 2 of Nymphomaniac is more conform to what you think the movie is about. It's nastier and goes for cheaper thrills, but LVT knows where he wants to dock his ship and sails the stormier seas quite aptly. There are longer, more difficult scenes, but they are never without a payoff. In the end, everything about Nymphomaniac is about the duality it discusses.
You should watch Nymphomaniac. You should do so at the first opportunity you get. It's the best movie I've seen this year, so far. It's smart, original, challenging and absurdly well-written. It's by far the best written LVT movie I've had the pleasure to see. Isn't that crazy? Von Trier can craft images of unspeakable beauty, but he can also write way better than your average screenwriter. My favourite Lars Von Trier movie used to be Dogville, but Nymphomaniac is some serious competition. It's a piece of epic ambition and beauty. God bless you, Lars Von Trier. Seriously, you make a reviewer's life more intense and exciting.
