New details have emerged on controversial director Lars von Trier’s next movie, aptly entitled The Nymphomaniac. Described as a film about “a woman’s erotic birth,” we now have information from Screen Daily. They tell us that Trier’s self-proclaimed porno will start shooting next summer in English, and there will be two versions due to the graphic nature of the film; one “hardcore” edition, and one that will have a wider theatrical release.
Part of me is cringing at the thought of this new pornographic film following “the erotic life of a woman from the age of zero to the age of 50.” Ummm, ewww. Dolling up cinematic erotica (aka porn) and passing it off as high art is not new to Trier, whose controversial film Antichrist portrayed actual penetration onscreen, and was a disturbing psycho-sexual drama. The Nymphomaniac seems like his most honest film to date, laying it all out there and just calling it a porno.
Filming will be in the English language and is set to start next summer. Trier’s business partner and producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen confirmed the shooting, and the fact that some “youthful sexuality” and the “graphic depiction of intercourse” will necessitate two versions of the film to get around censors. The hardcore version is going to portray scenes of penetration, and the softer version will be toned down for mainstream release.
It was also mentioned that the film is dialogue driven (which makes me chuckle). It’s going to be styled into eight chapters, each with its own chapter heading like “The Western and Eastern Church” and “The Little Organ School”. Jensen also said the film will be a “very amusing film also, very erotic but very funny also.”
Trier loves controversy, and seeks it out. He’s usually in the spotlight for saying something that gets people riled up, like the outrageous Nazi comments that got him banned from the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. It looks like he’s going to offend an even wider audience with this pic, especially if a depiction of “youthful sexuality” is what I think it is. Oh, and if you’re not offended by the idea of his film already, the title The Nymphomaniac barely won out over the proposed title, Dirt in Bedsores.