Movie Review: Nymphomaniac Volume I (2013)

Nymphomaniac Volume I is a 2013 two-part film written and directed by Lars Von Trier. I'm splitting this review into two parts for two separate parts of the film because this first movie is extremely dense. The film stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard, Stacy Martin, Shia LeBeouf, Christian Slater, Connie Nielsen, Jamie Bell, Uma Thurman, and Willem Dafoe. The movie follows Joe (Gainsbourg) a young woman who is discovered brutally beaten in an alleyway by Seligman (Skarsgard). Seligman takes Joe back to his place and Joe slowly begins to tell Skarsgard's character the story of her life. More specifically, her sexual awakening. Now going into this movie I knew that it was going to be your typical Lars Von Trier project. A very abstract film, with an extreme literary tone to it, as well as being disturbing and containing graphic, explicit imagery. This movie was all of that. Which actually made Nymphomaniac Volume One a good movie. I really enjoyed the tone of this film. It feels dark, it feels dirty. In fact, some of the scenes in this movie are so downright dark and disturbing and sexually explicit that they are hard to watch. One of the most compelling and well done things about this film is how the character of Joe is shown as a sex addict. There is no romance in this movie whatsoever. This is not a film that you go out and see with your girlfriend, this is a film that is completely void of any romance. Only sex, no love. That's pretty much the entire film. The acting was exemplary in this film. It's so emotional, so deep, and one character Jordan (Shia LeBeouf) reaches an extreme level of depth without even saying anything. That being said, there are some downsides to this movie. For example, this film is extremely graphic. So sexually explicit, that it isn't pleasant to watch. There are some scenes in this film that make you wonder how they were able to show certain scenes or depict certain acts. However, it didn't successfully prevent me from enjoying a really good film that I would recommend to anybody who is tolerant of the content. If you are a Von Trier film fan, I would highly suggest you check this out, I think it's a very thought provoking movie that actually does have a strong artistic talent about it. Overall, Nymphomaniac Volume I was a good movie with some graphic content, but a great story that really does make you think about the connection between life and sex, what romance really is, and how all three of those things come together in life. Three stars.