Director: Lars von Trier
Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard, Stacy Martin
My Rating: Liked It
Budget: $2.4 Million
Box Office: $14.4 Million (according to wikipedia)
"The secret ingredient to sex is love."
Nymphomaniac: Vol. I is a very interesting and thoughtful meditation on sex, love, and lust. I've seen people and critics alike bash this film, saying that it's a horribly written, pretentious soft-core porno. I do not agree. It may be grotesque and a little unbelievable at times, but Nymphomaniac: Vol. I has a surprising amount of substance behind all the sex.
There are some superb moments and ideas in this film: the comparison between Seligman's knowledge of fishing and Joe's young adult train escapades; Uma Thurman's fantastic appearance as a crazed, heartbroken ex-wife; the Edgar Allen Poe quote compared with Joe's life; Joe signifying three specific lovers as three different parts of a musical piece; the list goes on.
My only gripe is that it maybe shouldn't have been two movies. There are definitely a bunch of ideas put forth, but there were some parts that did feel superfluous. I have yet to see Vol. II, so maybe that will justify why it is two films, or maybe it won't. Either way, Nympomaniac: Vol. I is a sprawling and thoughtful movie about a damaged soul, filmed by a true auteur.