Thoughts I Had... While Staring at the First Image From "Nymphomaniac"
Friday, February 8, 2013 at 3:00PM Behold the first still released from Lars von Trier's Nymphomaniac which will star Charlotte Gainsbourg (in her third collaboration with the director following Antichrist & Melancholia). These are the thoughts I had in actual chronological order...
• That's a really odd choice for a first still. It's a tremendously vague tease but better this than those movies which release "first looks!" that might as well be headshots of the actors, they're so generic.
• Remember when Laura Dern got high from inhaling glue in paper bags in Citizen Ruth?
• If that were Michelle Pfeiffer and this were 1992, a bunch of cats could run into frame and resurrect this poor soul.
• Who is this poor soul?
• This doesn't look as fun as the movie's title. Bleak it looks.
• If this movie is as good as The Idiots (1998), my vote for the single most underappreciated von Trier marvel, I will want to have sex with it.
• Did you see Smashed? That scene where Mary Elisabeth Winstead accidentally smoked crack during a Lost Weekend really threw me.
• Will this movie have a mix of pathos and humor like many of von Trier's films or will it be an across the board icky provocation like Manderlay or Antichrist.
• Oh, I actually just looked up the plot synopsis on IMDb which suggestes that this is an image of Charlotte from perhaps the opening scene of the movie:
A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.
• Interesting cast I think: Returning von Trier alum Charlotte herself plus Jens Albinus, Udo Kier, Jesper Christensen, Stellan Skarsgård and Charlotte's Antichrist hubbie Willem Dafoe; Scandinavian von Trier Virgins: Shanti Roney (who was marvelous in a sexually charged uncomfortable scene in Applause) and international actress Connie Nielsen who turns it out when a director challenges her (i.e. infrequently but enough to make you long for the next time); People we most hope have sex very naked and super often in the movie even if its uncomfortably von Trierian sex: Jamie Bell & Uma Thurman; Stunt Casting: Christian Slater (as Charlotte's father?!) and Shia Labeouf who one assumes wanted to get naked and artsy again.
p.s. here's a second official image, less vague, less safe for work.
Reader Comments (15)
I'm so excited for this. Lars Von Trier, good or bad, always delivers an interesting, unique film and experience. And all his leading ladies have been amazing, except maybe Bryce Dallas Howard but it wasn't her fault.
I'm so so SAD Kidman to drop out of this. She said she found the script extraordany and thay the movie is totally shock the world.
Lars von Trier hasn't done anything to warrant the warm feelings and heighten anticipation that other auteurs are given these days. He's a washed up charlatan. I don't see the purpose of an actress lining up for his on screen abuses or dealing with the rough on set dictatorship, he's weirdly irrelevant in the face of all the online press he garners.
Couldn't disagree more. Antichrist, Melancholia, Dogville, Dancer in the Dark, Breaking the Waves are all amazing, thought provoking, daring films and you can't find anyone with his voice out there. Washed up? Charlatan? What???? You can't be serious. He may be a dick, I wouldn't know, but he's incredibly talented.
"Jamie Bell & Uma Thurman." Must remove this image from my brain.
I never thought I'd be writing this, but except for the "washed up" part, I pretty much agree with 3rtful.
I'm just glad Uma is in a movie that people might , you know, talk about.
I don't know if it's that she makes unfortunate choices when she signs on for certain films, or if maybe directors just aren't interested in working with her? She can be SO good in the right parts, and I almost feel like she doesn't get the chances other actresses do. She's older, and doesn't have the acclaim of Kidman of the box office of Bullock (Both of whom she has replaced in films). I still think she's an often arresting, luminous presence, I just wish someone knew what to do with her, or that she knew what to do for her own good.
Sean: How most great directors view Uma is probably something like "Batman & Robin, 1998 Avengers, Paycheck, The Producers, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Motherhood and Movie 43. Don't wanna risk it."
Sean - totally agree. Fortunately she'll always have Tarantino to prove that with the right director and the right understanding of her screen persona, she's golden. But yeah, it's a pity that most of the time it just doesn't work out. Peaks and valleys in terms of that filmography (and even in terms of her within her films)
/3rtful -- quick check: how many von Trier's have you actually seen? Melancholia proves he's still an extraordinariily unique voice. I didn't like Antichrist much but it's tough to argue that anyone else could have or would have made it.
sad man -- why wasn't it bryce's fault? (admittedly Manderlay is his worst film but still... all of his other leading ladies have shone pretty brightly
"A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating."
How did Hannibal Lecter put it in Silence of the Lambs? Sounds charming.
Just read in danish news, that his rather scandalous and hilariously entertaining producer peter aalbaek jensen believes that the film could possibly be Triers main work after seeing the edited footage of 1/4 the movie. " it has so much potential with regards to humour, greatness and visual quality that were seeing Trier in his absolute best form." Bodes well I'd say, particularly since I'm a complete fan of the man's sense of humour. For me his comic thriller the kingdom was some of the most funny and intelligent humour ive ever seen.
I've always liked Old Lars (The Kingdom, The Element of Crime and Europa) over New Lars with exception to Melancholia. I feel like some of the casting aside from Charlotte is done because actors want a role that gets them respect and credos which LVT is more than happy to oblige.
There's a new still out that's way more explicit--a threesome.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/2013/02/pm_nymphomaniac-2-photo-by-christian-geisnaes_0.jpg
The film Will not be ready for Cannes. They have around 100 houys footage and won't be able to finish it up. The Word is that they consider making it into 3 films or a t tv series ord both. Det indebærer end of 2013
The film Will not be ready for Cannes. They have around 100 houys footage and won't be able to finish it up. The Word is that they consider making it into 3 films or a t tv series ord both. It Means end of 2013 - sorry but this mobil spelling plugin is killing me