October 14th, 2014 
James Shotwell 
Film: Nymphomaniac Uncut
Starring: Charlotte Gainsbourg
Directed By: Lars Von Trier
A year after releasing a distributor approved version of his finest work to date, filmmaker Lars Von Trier has finally shared the unflinching and completely uncut vision of Nymphomaniac with audiences worldwide.
There was never anything wrong with the version of Nymphomaniac that began to make its way through North America in winter 2013, but the two-part affair was not the film Lars Von Trier wanted audiences to experience. It was close, but not entirely complete. Nymphomaniac Uncut fills in the missing segments, offering more metaphors and gratuitous sex than ever before, and in doing so improves upon a film that I would argue needs no improvement.
The story is essentially the same as it is in Nymphomaniac, with Joe recounting her sexual life to the seemingly kind old man who found her in the streets. It’s all a metaphor, of course, with the streets representing what I can best describe as purgatory. Joe needs to recount her adventures in order to free her soul and find rest she has sought for years. Tonight is the night everything comes undone, and we’re given a front row seat to an unflinching journey through one women’s sexual exploits from birth to the moment we met her in the streets.
I have to be honest and say I’ve struggled with how to write the rest of this review for the better part of ten days. Generally speaking, I would address the various aspects of the film and how they were pulled together to create the final feature, but as Nymphomaniac is a film like no other it seems wrong to try and frame it the way I would any other motion picture. The truth is that watching this film, especially in its uncut form, is an experience unlike anything else I have encountered in the world of cinema over the nearly three decades I have been on this Earth. It goes beyond forging a connection with the viewer and taps into something very primal, then explores that thing without worrying about any culturally imposed ideas of morality.
Lars Von Trier spent the first two chapters of his ‘Depression Trilogy’ dealing with things almost everyone struggles with day to day: The pain that comes with the loss of those we love (Antichrist) and the fact that we all have no control over when the universe will choose to take our lives (Melancholia). Nymphomaniac changes this formula and instead tells a story through the lens of someone who doesn’t even realize she’s trying to run from her feelings until many, many years have passed. The fact we’re given five hours to explore Joe’s life allows us to find many opportunities to relate with her journey, be it the care-free sexual exploration of youth, or the disconnect from society that comes with your mid-20s, or even the way we try and tell ourselves we can keep all our little lies in line no matter how many times the opposite proves true. Joe gets so lost by the end of the ‘Part One’ that she’s willing to do anything in order to feel alive again.
People will talk for many years about the sex in Nymphomaniac, and when witnessed in the uncut version it is certainly as graphic as any piece of pornography you’re likely to find, but this film is so much more than orgasms and BDSM that I questioned whether or not it needed to be mentioned at all in this review. It does however, and to his credit, Lars Von Trier has found a way to make onscreen penetration occur in such a way that it doesn’t distract the viewer entirely. Either that, or I have simply enjoyed his universe for so long that the sight of two people having actual sex for the sake of telling a fictional story is no longer shocking or all that alluring in the slightest. Lars wants to capture a sense of reality, and real people have sex.
I cannot say I’ve been down the exact same roads Joe travels over the course of Nymphomaniac, though there are some that feel quite familiar. We have all encountered lovers we wish to forget, as well as those we can never seem to hold as long as we desire. Likewise, we have all felt hopeless and lost, scrambling on hands and knees for any semblance of joy or pleasure at times when the world seemed at its bleakest. We’ve all told ourselves we’re on top of the world only to realize not long after the world had actually chewed us up and spat us out for the hundredth time, caring even less than it did any time before. We’ve hit rock bottom and fought for a path to something more meaningful, feeling as if we were the only ones to ever have such strange events turn their life upside down. Joe does all of this and we connect with her all the more for it because, for once, we have proof someone else has felt the sense of loss that makes us all feel like we’re completely alone.
Nymphomaniac Uncut is the complete opposite of a feel-good film, but it is without a doubt one of the finest pieces of cinema ever created. Lars Von Trier has been a master craftsman for several years at this point, but this work is the best expression of his unique vision to date. Like Boyhood or Citizenfour, it will never been replicated. I would never recommend that every person see it, as it is not a film everyone will be able to appreciate, but for those with an open mind and a curiosity about original filmmaking this is one experience that will never be forgotten.
GRADE: A+
Review written by James Shotwell Follow @utgjames
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