Nymphomaniac

I’m not really very squeamish when it comes
to NSFW content. Give me boobs. Give me
people’s heads getting blown off. Give me a
stream of f-bombs. Give me adult themes.
Most of it isn’t going to affect my mood of
surprise me in anyway. I tell you all of that to
underscore the following statement: the
director’s cut teaser for Nymphomaniac is
WAY OVER THE LINE. It is not NSFW-ish.
It’s not even what you would think of as
NSFW. It is NSFW x 5. Even if your boss is
cool, if he finds this in your search history,
you’re probably going to get a memo about
it. And if he’s not cool

Not surprisingly, the above trailer has gotten
more than its share of people to scream
about pornography this morning, but
considering anyone who would be offended
isn’t this movie’s target audience, I highly
doubt director Lars Von Trier cares. Besides,
Nymphomaniac is most definitely not
pornography. It’s a fairly interesting, fairly
pretentious movie about isolation, loneliness
and sex that features a lot of pretty graphic
sex. That’s outside the bounds of what
Hollywood typically gives us, but then again,
it’s outside the bounds of what pornography
typically gives us too. It occupies a weird
space where the two concentric circles
overlap.
According to Collider, the original, theatrically
released versions of Nymphomaniac were
ultimately edited some, with the director’s
approval. That’s how they were originally
released on Blu-Ray too, but moving forward,
he would like to get his original vision out
into the world. So, that’ll happen in this
director’s cut, though it’s unclear whether or
not the films will be sandwiched together or
remain apart.
Whether you think Nymphomaniac worked or
not, it’s important that there are directors
out there who are pushing the boundaries
and trying new things. The worst thing the
movie business can be is stagnant, and if the
side effect of that is the occasional movie
that pushes its content a little too
enthusiastically into uncomfortable directions,
that’s fine. A couple of penis and vagina
shots every now and again aren’t going to
kill any of us, regardless of what the more
cautious and conservative among us might
say.
We’ll keep you updated on the
Nymphomaniac director’s cut when more
official information becomes available. Until
then, feel free to watch your standard copy
and think about all the different ways it could
be made more graphic.