The film "The Nymphomaniac, the reviews of which you will find in this article, is an erotic drama by the Danish director Lars von Trier. It was released in 2013. The film is divided into two parts, which appeared in cinemas in turn. The main actors were Stellan Skarsgård and Charlotte Gainsbourg: The film received friendly reviews from critics, many called this work a real masterpiece.
Tie
Reviews of the film "Nymphomaniac" confirm that this picture did not leave anyone indifferent. Events begin to develop after the intellectual Seligman, who is played by Skarsgård, meets a badly battered stranger in the gateway, who appears as Joe (actress Charlotte Gainsbourg).
Bringing her to his home, a man learns the story of her life, starting from two years. Joe's story is filled with numerous allusions and parallels from the history of art.
The picture is divided into two volumes, in which there are eight chapters and an epilogue.
First volume
The first volume has five chapters. Joe begins to talk about herself from the age of 2 when she first discovered her vagina. She was attached to her father, who worked as a doctor, and her mother did not show any attention to her relatives. She spent her childhood with her father, who was a fan of dendrology. He instilled in her a love of trees, and especially of ash.
In the first chapter of The Skillful Fisherman, Joe tells how she lost her virginity at age 15 with her neighbor named Jerome.
A few years later, they arrange sex trips with their girlfriend on trains, competing who will manage to seduce more men. Joe wins and takes the prize - a bag of chocolates.
In the second chapter of Jerome, Joe talks about the only love in his life. She begins to work as a secretary, and her boss is the same Jerome. Joe has romantic feelings for him, she confesses everything to him in a letter. But does not have time to pass it, Jerome goes on a trip around the world with his secretary.
In the third chapter of Mrs. N, the main character talks about her depraved adventures - she invites one man after another to go home. One of them abandons a family for the sake of a girl - a wife and three children.
His depressed wife (the brilliant role of Uma Thurman) comes home to Joe with his sons. The situation turns into a real grotesque when another lover comes to Joe.
In the fourth chapter of Delirium, Joe indulges in memories of his father. She is the only one visiting him in the hospital when he dies of cancer. There she has sex with several men. When her father dies, she begins to get depressed.
In the fifth chapter, “Little Organ School,” Joe meets Jerome as he walks through the park. Recently, he broke up with his secretary. She has sex with him, realizing that she is no longer able to feel anything.
Second volume
In the second part, the Gainsbourg character recalls the first orgasm that she experienced back in school. Then images of the Babylonian harlot and Messalina came to her. Seligman admits that he is asexual, for his whole life he hasn’t slept with either men or women.
The sixth chapter is called "Eastern and Western Churches." Joe's depression is progressing in her. She understands that she lost sensations during sexual intercourse. Meanwhile, her son Marcel is born from Jerome.
Joe is trying by any means to restore his sexuality. To do this, she goes to the sadomasochist. Over time, visits become more frequent, she completely ceases to educate the boy. Jerome confronts her with a choice - family or visiting a sadomasochist. Joe picks the last one.
At the end of this story, so as not to be so sad, Joe recalls that it was this sadomasochist who introduced her to the original fisting method called "dumb duck".
In the seventh chapter of The Mirror, Joe becomes aware of her nymphomania at work. Her boss insists that she seek professional help from anonymous support groups. Faced with such "sisters in misfortune", Joe gets rid of everything in the apartment that used to remind her of sex. And after three weeks of persistent sexual abstinence, she wants to inform the members of her group about her first achievements, but she suddenly notices herself young in the mirror and at the same moment breaks down.
The final eighth chapter is called The Gun. In it, Joe joins a criminal group as a collector. She uses her experience gained in sadomasochism and sex to knock money out of debtors. Her boss strongly recommends finding a successor. Among the candidates is the daughter of a dangerous criminal, whom she calls R. The girl eventually moves to Joe and enters into sexual and even romantic relationships with her.
After some time, the main character understands that P is cheating on her. When her suspicions are confirmed, Joe finds out that the girl's lover is already aged Jerome, who thus haunts her all her life. She tries to kill him in the alley from her pistol, but forgets that a cartridge must be sent to the chamber. In response, Jerome brutally beats her, together with R, he has sex in front of her eyes, and after that the young girl urinates on the bloodied and battered main character. After that, Seligman discovers her.
Epilogue
The film ends with an epilogue. Seligman draws his analytical conclusions from everything he heard from Joe. Meanwhile, morning comes. The main character falls asleep without strength.
Literally a few moments after that, an excited Seligman enters the room and tries to get hold of her, but receives a categorical refusal. Joe picks up a gun. After that, the screen turns black, the viewer only hears what happens next. The main character shoots Seligman and leaves his apartment.
Charlotte Gainsbourg
In the reviews of the film "Nymphomaniac" by Lars von Trier, many note the bright work of Gainsbourg. This is one of the favorite actresses of the Danish director, involved in his films "Antichrist" and "Melancholy".
Gainsbourg was born in London in 1971. She has the citizenship of France and Great Britain. In the movie, she made her debut in 1984 in the musical melodrama Eli Shuraki "Words and Music".
Her popularity came after she starred in Claude Miller’s melodrama “The Impudent Girl”, in which she played a 13-year-old teenager who misses her brother and complex because of her appearance.
World fame came to her after the family drama by Andrew Birkin "Cement Garden", which tells the story of brothers and sisters who enter into an incestuous relationship after the death of their parents.
Among the last roles of Gainsbourg on the big screen, it is worth noting the comedy "Riad Sattuf" Jackie in the Kingdom of Women ", the thriller Thomas Alfredson" The Snowman ", the historical military drama Juris Barbier's" Promise at Dawn ".
Stellan Skarsgård
Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård is known for his many years of collaboration with von Trier. He played in four of his films - "Breaking the Waves", "Dancing in the Dark", "Dogville" and "Melancholy."
The popularity of the Swedish actor, who was born in Gothenburg in 1951, came after success on national television.
In Hollywood, they learned about the actor after the role of an engineer in the drama Philip Kaufman "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." At the moment he has played in more than one hundred feature films and TV shows.
In addition to those already mentioned, this is also the drama of Gus van Sant "Clever Will Hunting", the adventure comedy of Mount Verbinski "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest", the detective thriller David Fincher "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", the comedy fantasy Terry Gilliam "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. "
Perception
Impressions, reviews on the "Nymphomaniac" received the most controversial. Most responded enthusiastically about him. According to the results of reviews of "Nymphomaniac", the picture was included in the top ten best films of all 2014. This is a bright ironic provocation.
In reviews of both parts of the film "The Nymphomaniac", film critics and art historians emphasized that this is a classic film by Lars von Trier. As in most of his other films, the director became the author of the script. Reviews for the movie "Nymphomaniac" are fascinating, urging you to definitely watch this tape.
Nominations and awards
The first part of the tape was shown at the Berlin Film Festival, and the second at the Venetian. At the same time, the picture did not receive any awards at these international forums, although the reviews about the first part of the movie "Nymphomaniac" were very positive.
Von Trier's work received three nominations for the European Film Academy Award, a nomination for a film award of the Nordic Council, as well as five more nominations for the Danish main film award "Bodil".
Only one managed to win the award - Charlotte Gainsbourg received the Bodil Prize for Best Actress. Although the reviews of the film "Nymphomaniac" were sympathetic, the best Danish film of 2014 was Thomas Wintenberg's drama "The Hunt."
Interesting Facts
In a review of part 2 of the movie "Nymphomaniac," critics noted a large number of scenes of un simulated sex. It is interesting that for the filming of these episodes, the director used the genitalia of porn actors, which he added to the original bodies of the performers using digital processing.
Trier did not control the installation of versions that were released. His own directorial version was 5.5 hours long. Then the final version of the picture was made, the timing of which was 4 hours. She had to be cut for commercial, not censorship reasons, so that she went to the world box office. Reviews for the movie "Nymphomaniac 2" around the world came out enthusiastic. In the halls even more spectators gathered than in the first part.