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Nymphomaniac shows that Lars Von Trier doesn’t do things by halves, as his latest opus makes it to Blu-ray and DVD in a 2-part story totalling a shade over four hours.
Vol.I begins with Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) being found in an alley by an innocent, old man called Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård), since she’s been beaten up and left for dead. He takes her back to his place and, as she rests up, she tells him about her life and her tales of being a nymphomaniac. Telling her tales in flashback, she warns him that it’ll be a long story, although having checked the running times on IMDB, this is something I already knew.
Over the two films, we see Christian Slater playing Joe’s father during her younger incarnation (played by Stacy Martin); she tells of how she and her friends climbed the ropes at school and, while up there, they got the ‘sensation’; she encounters the demanding Jerôme (Shia LaBeouf), originally when she’s very young, as she wants him to take her virginity; as well as her time when she had sex with random men on a train.
At some point, the film has to change the flashback scenes between the young Joe and the current Joe. There’s about 20 years difference in their age, but no attempt is made to make them meet in the middle – Martin is simply replaced by Gainsbourg from the second flashback onwards in Vol.II.
Lars explores the minituae of life, making you think he had a zillion different ideas which he threw in for the sake of it, but they tie in with a purpose, such as Seligman’s fascination with fishing and makes links with her story.
As to whether the actors actually had sex… no, is the answer. Adult actors were CGI’d into the scenes to make it look like the actual actors were the ones who were having it away.
In addition, every man Joe meets has a single letter for a name, eg. K is into encounters involving violence.
And in Vol.II you can learn a restaurant trick involving spoons…
The story is engaging, but Stellan mumbles through his lines, making the subtitles essential. And, oddly, the subtitles are ALL IN CAPITALS. Why? Or is this a further example of Lars Von Trier being a bit up himself?
Nymphomaniac is an intriguing watch, and is never boring. At first you feel sorry for her, for the fact she’s been left for dead, but as the film goes on and you see the lives she’s destroyed in her quest for lust, any sympathies fly out the window.
Nymphomaniac is released on April 28th on Blu-ray and DVD.
The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and in 1080p high definition and has no defects on the print, bringing the mostly grim locations to life in precisely the way they need.
And that audio comes in DTS HD 5.1 option. It’s not a special FX film, obviously, but the dialogue and incidental music comes across crystal clear.
The extras on this disc, which are in HD, are as follows:
- Interviews (Disc 1): Four here, starting with Charlotte Gainsbourg (12:11), who thought the idea about making a film with such content was a joke, at first, and later on how she had to put up with seeing herself have sex onscreen when watching the film in post-production.
Then Shia LaBeouf (8:59) who enthuses greatly about his first time working with the director, Stacy Martin (10:18) on playing a character over a 15-year life span, as well as discuss the sex scenes, and finally, Stellan Skarsgård (11:21) on his long history of working with the director.
- Q&A (Disc 2): A live Q&A in front of a theatre audience with Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin and Sophie Kennedy Clark (playing young Joe’s friend, B), hosted by Edith Bowman.
With some pre-prepared questions, and some tweeted by the audience who had been watching it beforehand, this is an intriguing complement to the film and well worth a watch.
The menu features clips of the film set to its incidental music playing in the background. Subtitles are in English only and when it comes to the chaptering, I feel one should come every five minutes on average. A lot of distributors go for a low 12 however long the film. Artificial Eye’s chaptering tends to vary from disc to disc. Unfortunately, here, it’s just the same 12, per volume of Nymphomanic. How disappointing.
|
FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
7 10 7 4 |
| OVERALL | 7 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 118 / 124 minutes
Year: 2013
Released: April 28th 2014
Chapters: 12 / 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio, DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Widescreen: 2.35:1, 1.85:1 (some scenes)
Disc Format: BD50
Director: Lars von Trier
Producer: Louise Vesth
Screenplay: Lars von Trier
Cast:
Joe: Charlotte Gainsbourg
Seligman: Stellan Skarsgård
Young Joe: Stacy Martin
Jerôme: Shia LaBeouf
Joe’s Father: Christian Slater
B: Sophie Kennedy Clark
Mr. H: Hugo Speer
Mrs. H: Uma Thurman
K: Jamie Bell
L: Willem Dafoe
P: Mia Goth
N, Black Man: Kookie Ryan
Black Man 2: Papou
Interpreter: Shanti Roney
Odin: Anders Hove
Young Lad 1 on Train: James Northcote
Young Lad 2 on Train: Charlie Hawkins
Married Man on Train: Clayton Nemrow
Man Uninterested: Simon Böer
Man on Train 1: Jeff Burrell
Man 2 on Train: Andreas Grötzinger
S: Jens Albinus
Conductor: Tomas Sinclair Spencer
Jerôme’s Uncle: Jesper Christensen
Nurse : Saskia Reeves
Therapist: Kate Ashfield
Debtor gentleman: Jean-Marc Barr
The Waiter: Udo Kier (uncredited)
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.