After 103 seconds of a dark screen, Volume I opens in a dark alley. A young woman, Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) lying nearly motionless and bleeding, has been the victim of an apparent beating. She is found by a man named Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) who offers to help her. He brings her back to his apartment for a cup of tea and an opportunity to rest. There, she begins to relate how she became obsessed with sex as a young woman, her first lover, Jerome (Shia LaBeouf), with a bad accent, who eventually becomes her boss, and other sexual misadventures. Seligman offers observations, comparing her addiction to fly fishing (it’s a metaphor, but it’s not particularly important). While Seligman makes parallels to every sexual act Joe mentions, he never shows any emotion, seeming strangely removed from the reality of the situation.
As a teenager, Joe, and her best friend B (Sophie Kennedy Clark) begin a club with a rule never to sleep with a man more than once. They have a competition to see who can have sex with the most men. Frequent flashbacks to Joe’s childhood reveal a girl who had an odd relationship with her sensitive (bordering on creepy) father (Christian Slater) and is largely ignored by her distant mother (Connie Nielsen), but was aware of her sexuality from a young age. While she did experience some pleasure from various sex acts, for her, the real excitement comes from the power she can wield over men. Love is NOT a factor, “Love is just lust with jealousy added,” she says. The only man who comes anywhere close to having a relationship with Joe, her first lover Jerome pops up throughout her life.
Von Trier never wanted Nymphomaniac to be split into two parts. That’s obvious given the abrupt ending of Volume I. It felt as if someone just decided, “Okay, that’s all people will be able to take. Cut Volume I. While the powers that be had a point, the ending is plain awkward.
Nymphomaniac: Volume Two doesn’t offer enough to really justify its 124 minute running time. As Joe continues to tell her story, she has lost feeling in her private parts. As a result, Jerome suggests that she try having sex with other men. She tries this for a while, which eventually brings her to a particular man (Jamie Bell) who is into some very strange practices. After that, she finds herself working for a shady collection agency run by L (Willem Dafoe). L believes that she’s doing a very good job, but that she should start to think about who will eventually replace her, leading her to a young girl (Mia Goth) who becomes her protégé. She has to deal with these issues while attempting to remain abstinent despite her addiction.
Four hours of Nymphomaniac is exhausting, though the acting is quite good. Newcomer Stacey Martin does a solid job as the young Joe, giving the character a real sense of humanity and deep, emotional pain. Martin shares enough physical similarities with Charlotte Gainsbourg to buy into the two playing the same character. The large supporting cast including Uma Thurman, Jaime Bell, and Willem Dafoe has fairly small but effective parts. I don’t want to pile on here, but Shia LaBeouf‘s accent is awful, and his character’s egotism was grating. I’ll admit, maybe I’ve just had my fill of Shia.
There’s been a lot of talk about the graphic sex in Nymphomaniac, and there is plenty of full frontal nudity, both female and male, graphic sex scenes, and oral sex on a train. However, in the context of the story, the scenes aren’t erotic, though it’s clear why this is unrated.
Note: The two volumes here is the unrated international version of the film, not von Trier’s five-and-a-half-hour director’s cut, which will reportedly be released at a later date.
Framed in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio, the 1080p transfer is a solid one. Apart from a few black-and-white flashbacks, the colors throughout Volume I are both striking and lifelike. Even during the sadder moments, the film shows off a lot of detail. Nudity, facial stubble, strands of hair, ect are all very sharp. The second film is a bit grainier and some of the wider angles don’t have the same amount of detail, but it’s still possesses vivid detail.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track consists largely of dialogue, with the notable exception of a few musical interludes by Rammstein, Steppenwolf, the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, and a couple of others. There are a few atmospheric sounds, but nothing of real note. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout.
English SDH, and Spanish subtitles are included.
The following extras are available:
Nymphomaniac: Volume I:
- The Characters (HD, 9:39): Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stacey Martin, Stellan Skarsgård and Shia LaBeouf discuss their characters.
- AXS TV: A Look at Nymphomaniac (HD, 3:02): This is an AXS TV promo that relies more heavily on interview excerpts, including some that are not part of the interview segments on either this disc or Volume II.
- Nymphomaniac Volume I Trailer (HD, 1:47).
- BD-Live
Nymphomaniac: Volume II:
- The Director (HD, 8:50): Gainsbourg, Martin, Skarsgård and LaBeouf discuss working with von Trier.
- The Sex (HD, 7:13): The same four interviewees discuss the film’s sex scenes.
- Nymphomaniac Volume II Trailer (HD, 1:45).
- BD-Live
