“love is blind”
“no, no, no. it’s worse. love distorts things. or even worse, love is something you never asked for. the erotic was something that i ask for or even demanded of men. but this idiotic love… i felt humiliated by it, and all the dishonesty that follows. the erotic is about saying yes. love appeals to the lowest instincts, wrapped up in lies. how do you say yes when you mean no? and vice-versa. i’m ashamed of what i became. but it was beyond my control”
after watching dancer in the dark, a movie i just completely fell in love with (and it’s currently my favourite movie ever) i knew i had to check out the rest of lars von triers filmography (who is definitely a controversial figure, through björk’s allegations against him and also that one cringe inducing interview where he jokingly admits in being a nazi) and despite that, i still wanted to give a try of another one of his movies just because of how bleak, and well made his 2000 musical drama was. choosing a second film was obviously hard, as he has many and also they’re all quite well received, especially in letterboxd. i think the main reason why i watched nymphomaniac vol.i was because id seen a lot of people talk about it, and also it was one of his shorter movies. and yeah, i was definitely wrong about that as the version i saw was a lot longer than what letterboxd had, cant remember the exact time but it was well over two hours. i think that might be the reason why i’m dramatically giving this higher than the average, as while it was long, it nicely developed all of its subplots. as it gave a character study on this woman’s life from childhood. but honestly, i liked this movie so much and i’m not even guilty for it, it’s not as good as dancer in the dark, but that’s a really high standard to surpass. when i started it, i really didn’t know what to expect: at all. but after the ten minute mark, i really got into it, and loved the blend of philosophical talking scenes, to then the raw portrayal of the protagonist (who was beaten up on a road) and how she talks about her life story as a ‘nymphomaniac’ from childhood, as it progressively consumes her more and more. outside of its philosophical debates, its also explicitly sexual, basically bordering on pornographic. might be unpleasant to many, but i really appreciate its brave approach, using unstimulated sex and cgi to represent taboo topics of sexuality. despite its transgressive nature, it’s just super addictive to watch, and it just sucks you in. there’s multiple scenes that i thought were memorable, like that whole bus scene will forever be stuck in my mind, especially that one part (if you know, you know). it uses sexuality to show the self-hatred joe has for herself, as she grows addicted to sex, to the point she doesn’t really get effected by it anymore. despite its bleak nature, it also has some witty/dark humour that makes it a generally enjoyable experience, unlike dancer in the dark and nymphomaniac vol.2 (which i’ll probably review somewhere later, but it has a really jarring tonal shift). i probably shouldn’t like this as much as i do, but it was an experience ill most definitely never forget, with its amazing performances: young joe’s actor who does a nice job at showing her sexual discovery, and uma thurman as the unforgettable mother. not as good as dancer in the dark, but miles better than nymphomaniac vol.2
“love is blind”
“no, no, no. it’s worse. love distorts things. or even worse, love is something you never asked for. the erotic was something that i ask for or even demanded of men. but this idiotic love… i felt humiliated by it, and all the dishonesty that follows. the erotic is about saying yes. love appeals to the lowest instincts, wrapped up in lies. how do you say yes when you mean no? and vice-versa. i’m ashamed of what i became. but it was beyond my control”
after watching dancer in the dark, a movie i just completely fell in love with (and it’s currently my favourite movie ever) i knew i had to check out the rest of lars von triers filmography (who is definitely a controversial figure, through björk’s allegations against him and also that one cringe inducing interview where he jokingly admits in being a nazi) and despite that, i still wanted to give a try of another one of his movies just because of how bleak, and well made his 2000 musical drama was. choosing a second film was obviously hard, as he has many and also they’re all quite well received, especially in letterboxd. i think the main reason why i watched nymphomaniac vol.i was because id seen a lot of people talk about it, and also it was one of his shorter movies. and yeah, i was definitely wrong about that as the version i saw was a lot longer than what letterboxd had, cant remember the exact time but it was well over two hours. i think that might be the reason why i’m dramatically giving this higher than the average, as while it was long, it nicely developed all of its subplots. as it gave a character study on this woman’s life from childhood. but honestly, i liked this movie so much and i’m not even guilty for it, it’s not as good as dancer in the dark, but that’s a really high standard to surpass. when i started it, i really didn’t know what to expect: at all. but after the ten minute mark, i really got into it, and loved the blend of philosophical talking scenes, to then the raw portrayal of the protagonist (who was beaten up on a road) and how she talks about her life story as a ‘nymphomaniac’ from childhood, as it progressively consumes her more and more. outside of its philosophical debates, its also explicitly sexual, basically bordering on pornographic. might be unpleasant to many, but i really appreciate its brave approach, using unstimulated sex and cgi to represent taboo topics of sexuality. despite its transgressive nature, it’s just super addictive to watch, and it just sucks you in. there’s multiple scenes that i thought were memorable, like that whole bus scene will forever be stuck in my mind, especially that one part (if you know, you know). it uses sexuality to show the self-hatred joe has for herself, as she grows addicted to sex, to the point she doesn’t really get effected by it anymore. despite its bleak nature, it also has some witty/dark humour that makes it a generally enjoyable experience, unlike dancer in the dark and nymphomaniac vol.2 (which i’ll probably review somewhere later, but it has a really jarring tonal shift). i probably shouldn’t like this as much as i do, but it was an experience ill most definitely never forget, with its amazing performances: young joe’s actor who does a nice job at showing her sexual discovery, and uma thurman as the unforgettable mother. not as good as dancer in the dark, but miles better than nymphomaniac vol.2
