Lars von Trier is undoubtedly a polarizing filmmaker. His repertoire invokes a range of emotions from earnest avoidance to curious infatuation. He’s been pointed out as a purveyor of misogyny as he famously and deliberately places many of his females in rather unkind situations to say the least (i.e. the brain-searing climax in Antichrist). And his penchant to depict the uncomfortable and sometimes unfathomable has been interpreted as obscene and sensationalist for its own sake. And yet his work continues to prevail, standing on its own, whole and unapologetic.
Nymphomaniac: Volumes I & II is the last installment of his Depression Trilogy which also includes the preceding Antichrist and Melancholia. The trilogy purportedly transpired as the director dealt with his own struggles with depression. Although each tale shares its own harrowing interpretation of the crippling emotional turmoil, Nymphomaniac may just be the boldest chapter to come to fruition.
Nymphomaniac, split into two parts due to its unpalatable running time is a story framed within a story. Wounded and left in an alley, presumably to die, Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), is taken in by an older gentleman Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard). Coaxed by the sympathetic Samaritan and perhaps simply by her need for any semblance of a cathartic release, Joe shares her history: her sexual evolution leading up to present. Her candid even nonchalant recount begins from the age of two, the beginning of a bold exploration of the equivocal and teetering link between self and sex.
In the first volume, Joe begins to narrate her erotic history with an uncommon degree of candor which is both startling yet well received by the nonthreatening Seligman who eagerly lends an ear. He is an activ...
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...raphy masqueraded as art. Von Trier’s films continue to serve a more acquired taste (and those with a strong stomach) and Nymphomaniac continues this fashion. It’s a bold meditation on sexuality saturated with intellect, absurdity, dark humor, and with Von Trier at the helm, there’s definitely nothing quite like it.
Perhaps the only difference between me and other people is that I've always demanded more from the sunset.
reconcile, irreconcilable a true embodiment of her circumstances and actions which
The insatiable woman and her desire for the unattainable is
It offers the audience a disturbing and yet beautiful consideration of matters that are for the most part left untouched.
A meditation
naught
, is a startling testimony to his capacity to explore the unsavory and contraband without having to answer to anyone of a higher power.
copulation
November 1998, written for FILM 220: Aspects of Criticism. This is a 24-week course for second-year students, examining methods of critical analysis, interpretation and evaluation. The final assignment was simply to write a 1000-word critical essay on a film seen in class during the final six-weeks of the course. Students were expected to draw on concepts they had studied over the length of the course.
...was a desperate act of a lonely, insane woman who could not bear to loose him. The structure of this story, however, is such that the important details are delivered in almost random order, without a clear road map that connects events. The ending comes as a morbid shock, until a second reading of the story reveals the carefully hidden details that foreshadow the logical conclusion.
Paula Vogel’s play, How I Learned to Drive, artistically tackles the disturbing issue of incestual pedophilia. The play’s protagonist Li’l Bit narrates the action as she goes through her memory of specific events. Much like stream of consciousness, her narration does not lead chronologically to scenes in her past. Rather it jumps back and forth between the present and different points in her life. She tells of her memories of youth and her sexual and emotional relationship with her Uncle Peck. Rather than simply telling about her experiences, though, Li’l Bit shares her memories through vignettes which show the audience her role in the affair within the context of learning to drive (Greene 425).
Film making has gone through quite the substantial change since it’s initial coining just before the turn of the 19th century, and one would tend argue that the largest amount of this change has come quite recently or more so in the latter part of film’s history as a whole. One of the more prominent changes having taken place being the role of women in film. Once upon a time having a very set role in the industry, such as editing for example. To mention briefly the likes of Dede Allen, Verna Fields, Thelma Schoonmaker and so forth. Our female counterparts now occupy virtually every aspect of the film making industry that males do; and in many instances excel past us. Quite clearly this change has taken place behind the lens, but has it taken
The climax is illustrated and clarified through the symbolic tearing or exposing of the bare walls. She wants to free the woman within, yet ends up trading places, or becoming, that "other" woman completely. Her husband's reaction only serves as closure to her psychotic episode, forcing him into the unfortunate realization that she has been unwell this whole time.
His experimental and unique perverse screenwriting has shocked and inspired numerous people. His aesthetics painted horror vividly and presented itself dramatically. His musical and cinematic vision was a healthy extension of his devilishly, clever, and demented mind. His modes of publication with music, film and print, had and still a tremendous fanbase. He has gained our attention in every media related forum and we can’t look away, even if we try. He has left us cheering, screaming and on the edge of our seats. We leave feeling bad about ourselves for watching his visual storytelling unfold. “You know, it’s like, I’m going to sit here for 90 minutes and watch these guys get fucked up with no hope. That’s what I love about these films, you walk out feeling bad about yourself, saying “Why did I enjoy that? What does this say about me as a person?” It is a cathartic experience that horror lovers can have again and again. Not acting on those horrific urges, but instead, becoming one of his characters that were just never really understood and that evil is real. Evil never dies and revenge always wins or at least in horror
In her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey discusses the subject of how female characters, through various methods, are subjected to erotic objectification, by both the characters on screen as well as the spectators within the auditorium. While Mulvey makes an excellent point in acknowledging female’s exposure in cinema, she fails to realize that male characters are just as likely to be subjected to the same kind of objectification, depending on what type of audience the motion picture is directed at. Mulveys claim depends on a generalization of a homogenous audience and characters that only consists of heterosexual men. When transferring Mulveys claim onto homosexual male characters starring in a production that is in first-hand directed towards a gay audience, the erotic objectification of male characters share several similarities with those Mulvey describe women to be exposed to in her essay. Consequently, erotic objectification is governed by different circumstances, in which the audience plays a large role.
Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac (2013) sparked controversy even before its stateside release during a matinee screening of Disney’s Frozen (Buck/Lee, 2013) in Tampa, Florida. The usual routine began as the projectionist prepared to screen the film: the lights of the cinema began to dim, the projection screen turned black, and the usual filler of cartoons and trailers started rolling. And then something unusual happened. According to one unsuspecting grandmother, “They put in the filler, it looked like Steamboat Willie, the old Mickey Mouse cartoon, and then all of a sudden it goes into this other scene” (Guardian, “Nymphomaniac Trailer”). This “other scene” was the red-band teaser for Nymphomaniac, described by Julie Miller of Vanity Fair as “the most graphic movie preview of all time—thanks in part to visuals of former child star Shia LaBeouf nude and engaged in multiple sexual activities” (Vanity Fair, “Explicit Sex Film”). Miller’s description of the trailer, however, is mostly incorrect. Very little do we see of LaBeouf’s character in the red-band trailer, neither “nude” nor engaged in the act of sex. Instead we catch various clips of Young Joe, performed by Stacy Martin, who is at one point seen fully nude and whose vagina is superimposed against the film’s title (stylized as NYMPH()MANIAC) at the start of the teaser. Despite his intentions in line with the Puzzy Power movement, von Trier’s male gaze complicates his presentation of female sexuality in Nymphomaniac. The logic behind the metanarrative of the film suggests that Joe’s (Charlotte Gainsbourg) salvation is ultimately afforded by male characters, most explicitly through Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård), Jerôme (Shia LaBeouf), and “K” (Jamie Bell). Although Nymphomaniac ask...
“It is said that analyzing pleasure, or beauty, destroys it” written by artist-historian, Laura Mulvey, she discusses the issues that arise when studying beauty. Examining and focusing on feminine beauty to the point of destroying it, has been a constant theme in cinema for decades. Director, Alfred Hitchcock’s has created 65 films in his 50-year long career, Hitchcock is now a common household name, being one of the most widely influential directors of the 20th century. Nicknamed “The Master of Suspense,” he made a name for himself by his incredible ability to visualize his subconscious fears and desires and turn them into a masterpiece. Throughout Hitchcock’s successful career, his films have a common theme of objectifying women through the
In Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey states that, “Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium, with a shifting tension between the looks on either side of the screen.” (Mulvey 40). A woman’s role in the narrative is bound to her sexuality or the way she
Led by Laura Mulvey, feminist film critics have discussed the difficulty presented to female spectators by the controlling male gaze and narrative generally found in mainstream film, creating for female spectators a position that forces them into limited choices: "bisexual" identification with active male characters; identification with the passive, often victimized, female characters; or on occasion, identification with a "masculinized" active female character, who is generally punished for her unhealthy behavior. Before discussing recent improvements, it is important to note that a group of Classic Hollywood films regularly offered female spectators positive, female characters who were active in controlling narrative, gazing and desiring: the screwball comedy.
...ea. "Film and Mental Illness: Fetishisation, Romanticism or Misinterpretation?"Diorama. Diorama, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2014.
In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.
...of what an individual can truly be to give ambiguities of framing and atmosphere. The ending of the film is by far the most unnerving scenes of all time. This is done in one shot in front of the camera, no other dialogue is said but narration.