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Nymphomaniac (18)

Drama

A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.


The critical consensus

Much of Nymphomaniac shows off Von Trier at his best, even if there are moments of prurience and extreme silliness along the way.

****(*)Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent, 17/12/2013

Nymphomaniac annoys me, repels me, and I think I might love it. It's an abusive relationship; I need to see it again.

****(*)Xan Brooks, The Guardian, 17/12/2013

For the most part Nymphomaniac is compelling and achieves exactly what von Trier set out to do: a multi-faceted exploration of sexuality, in all its bizarre, twisted glory.

****(*)James Mottram, The List, 14/02/2014

A provocative, engrossing, often hilarious, frequently tough picture. Not for all sensibilities but it’s among von Trier’s more playful, purely entertaining films, with insight and humour in even the horrors.

****(*)Kim Newman, Empire Online, 17/02/2014

With explicit sex and penetrating philosophy, this erotic odyssey requires close attention and an open mind.

****(*)Kate Stables, Total Film, 17/02/2014

Verdict: Gruelling tale of sex addiction.

****(*)Brian Viner, Daily Mail, 21/02/2014

There is heroism in her descent and, with its shaggy-dog stretches of deadpan tedium and detonations of porn-outrage, there is a pulpy brilliance in Lars von Trier's film.

****(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 20/02/2014

Relief from such tedium comes mainly in the form of tittering at some unintentionally terrible acting – most of it from Shia LaBeouf.

**(*)(*)(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 22/02/2014

A surprising amount of soul for a film supposedly about base sexuality.

****(*)Sophie Monks Kaufman, Little White Lies, 17/12/2014

Nymphomaniac is fascinating as an intellectual case study. There is a heroic striving from Joe to understand her own behaviour and desires. This double bill intimate epic doesn’t feel prurient at all but, strangely, it doesn’t have the emotional kick that might have been expected either - and it ends as mysteriously as it begins.

****(*)Geoffrey MacNab, The Independent, 20/02/2014

Nymphomaniac is either the thoroughly miserable story of a woman who discovers too late that love is not just a bourgeois construct, and that you can neither entirely validate or entirely negate the self with sex alone; or it is a profane celebration of the human condition and all of its varied glories and bathetic weaknesses. You really can choose to go either way.

****(*)Laurence Phelan, The Independent, 21/02/2014

Sunk by pretentious psychosexual silliness, this comes close to being a primer on the Joylessness of Sex, but Nymphomaniac is never completely flaccid, thanks to the procession of actors or stunt doubles prepared to go the full-frontal distance, and Von Trier’s eye for a striking image.

**(*)(*)(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 25/02/2014


Features about Nymphomaniac (18)

Lars Von Trier gives up final cut on Nymphomaniac

James White, Empire Online, 12/11/2013

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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