“Lars von Trier’s wild, sprawling Nymphomaniac is an orgy of the sublime and the ridiculous. It is the story – over several decades – of one woman, Joe’s self-destructive sex life, first as a young girl, then in her teens and twenties (played by dazzling newcomer Stacy Martin) and later middle-aged (Charlotte Gainsbourg). We cut from Joe in the present recalling her life to a man (Stellan Skarsgård) who finds her crumpled and bloodied in an alleyway, to flashes of her past, including her early discovery of her sexuality and youthful conquests.
“Chaotic and not especially pretty, there’s plenty of flesh, although the film is rarely, if ever, what most people would call erotic or pornographic. It’s neither deeply serious nor totally insincere; hovering somewhere between the two. Tragedy sits next to comedy. It feels like an X-rated farce”- Dave Calhoun, TimeOut
