Nymphomaniac - Director's Cut - DVD review

Directed by Lars von Trier, 2014

Artificial Eye

Midway through the second half of Lars von Trier's unsparing study of sexual compulsion, Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) visits the meticulous dispenser of pain K (Jamie Bell).

What on earth would compel these women to queue up and pay for such punishment? Loyal Von Trier fans might ask themselves the same when they embark on this five-and-a-half-hour version of his opus.

Yes, there are more phalluses, more vulvas, but the most meaningful restored footage is aimed firmly at the gut and the head.

A scene between Joe and her dying father adds another dimension to her already complex emotional character. But the one that really lingers is a home abortion scene that is nothing short of horrifying.

Nor is it easy to dismiss as gratuitously graphic: arch provocateur Von Trier follows it with a moral discussion between Joe and her scholarly confessee (Stellan Skarsgard) that will challenge even the most ardent pro-choicer. But be warned, it's the kind of scene that you may wish you could unsee.

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