About
Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgård, Stacy Martin, Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater
Director: Lars von Trier
“A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.” (IMDb)
»Currently streaming on Netflix«
What to Expect
Fly fishing
Cake forks
Polyphonic music
Why You Should Watch It
Don’t.
Too Weird, Even for Me (F)
The Spoilers
This film starts out with a lot of promise. Joe (Gainsbourg/Martin) finds parallels between her base, sexual encounters and more sophisticated arts such as fishing and Bach. Through Skarsgård’s enthusiastic and non-judgmental Seligman, her sexual habits are normalized. Beauty is found in the shame. Yet the story fizzles around halfway to reveal it’s nothing more than some poetic waxing of a sad girl who has a lot of sad sex and (surprise) is none the happier for it. By Chapter 4 or 5 the parallels start getting old and you get the sneaking suspicion that this first half of this four-hour journey toward Joe’s beating could have been succinctly summed up in one sentence (I refused to waste time watching Vol. II but I read a thorough synopsis and can say, yes, yes it could have been).
When we reached the scene with Mrs. H (played by Uma Thurman), I was ready to give up on this film. Why did Joe just stand around and say nothing when she could have immediately explained that she didn’t care for Mr. H and shooed them out the door to have their own domestic squabble while she prepared for her next lover. If she truly didn’t have any feelings about being a homewrecker, why draw out that pointless scene?
There are many people who enjoy this movie (Netflix even suggested it was a 98% match for me), but the more Lars von Trier films I see, the more I’m starting to think he just isn’t my cup of tea.