Class is back in session! After the first half of Nymphomaniac ended on one of Joe’s (Charlotte Gainsbourg) biggest emotional pivot points, the break between the two volumes is almost welcome. That’s only because Vol. 1 is so inundated with cinematic beauty, it almost doesn’t let you breathe for a full two hours. The fact that the first volume is such a stylistically bold and lovely achievement puts me in a bit of a precarious situation; how do you objectively assess a second half of a film and treat it as a whole? It’s easier with the first half because the film starts at the beginning and you’re watching it with fresh eyes. Here, the start is the middle and the mind scuttles to recall events instead of investing in the present. There’s no way around it—it’s impossible to treat Vol. 2 as a whole, so if you haven’t seen Vol.1 yet it’s best you stop reading and get on that first. That said, there’s no major spoilers ahead.

As soon as Vol. 2 begins, there’s a sense of major discord from the first half. Whereas the visually delectable Vol. 1 starts off on the sardonic notes of a Rammstein song playing over seemingly mundane events, the subdued intimacy in Vol. 2‘s beginning puts us in an immediate state of unease. In order to truly be in the moment with the characters, the viewer has to recall that Vol. 1 ends with the devastating line “I can’t feel anything”, uttered by Young Joe (Stacy Martin) while she’s having sex with Jerome (Shia LaBeouf). We have to remember how her roller-coaster feelings for Jerome finally blossomed from pity into undeniable love, and how her decision to funnel her nymphomania into one sexual partner started to foreshadow dire consequences. One of the opening moments of Vol. 2 illustrates: after vigorously trying to masturbate with no climactic success, Young Joe goes into the bathroom, takes a wet towel and proceeds to beat her vagina with it in frantic desperation.

Moments like these lose their emotional impact due to the disjointed release schedule of Nymphomaniac in North America, but they cannot be taken lightly within the whole context. No doubt, when the film is released in its entirety—hopefully uncut, and with Von Trier’s blessings—the film will be re-watched by its fans from start to intended finish, in order to get the full effect in one sitting.

Remember how my first review said that Nymphomaniac is Von Trier’s most accessible movie to date? Yeah, about that. Vol. 2 treads the all-too-familiar Von Trier ground of disturbance, reminding us that it comes from the same mind that created Antichrist (in one particular scene, Von Trier quite literally makes sure we remember.) The darkness of Vol. 2 eclipses the jocular style of Vol. 1 within minutes, and right up until its final, brilliant conclusion (one of the biggest mixed bags of emotion I’ve felt for an ending in years), makes Vol. 1 look like a pleasant stroll on a lazy Sunday. That, in and of itself, is one of the phenomenal traits built into the film’s fiber, and reason enough to make Nymphomaniac a scintillating cinematic event. The story grows as organically as its characters do.

As Joe grows from an innocent young girl who expresses herself through sex without giving it much thought, into a woman who has to cope with motherhood and battle her condition both internally and externally, the progression from light to darkness is only natural. Even the relationship between Joe and Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard) plunges into darkened depths; secrets are unearthed and Seligman’s tangents–having provided much amusement in Vol. 1–become more perceptible to Joe’s criticism and adorn a more somber vibe. When her relationship with Jerome begins its inevitable decline, the theme of sadomasochism is introduced and we see the boy who was once Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell, as the Kafkaesque ‘K’) playing one of Lars Von Trier‘s darkest characters ever. An improbable casting story if there ever was one. Heavily veiled in religious lexicon, this theme contains some of the hardest scenes to watch, but every painful moment and every disturbing feeling is intrinsic to Joe’s transformation.

After being silenced with Vol. 1‘s inviting approach, the general murmur amongst the skeptics is back to “There’s the Lars we know!” with Vol 2. But while those critics focus on highlighting all of Von Trier’s taboos for all the wrong reasons, they’re missing out on a truly transgressive piece of cinema. Nymphomaniac holds a deep wisdom within its clutches, and uses a woman’s sexuality as a scalpel to rip open the very fabric of humanity. In more ways than one, Von Trier has shown how big of a feminist he really is, and–as sad as it sounds—that’s still pretty unique in today’s world. There’s no doubt that fans of Lars Von Trier will fall madly in love with the complete Nymphomaniac because they’ll understand why Vol. 2 has to swap humor for gloom, and balance out its style for further substance. As the harder to watch, much more affective half, Vol. 2 compliments the first volume (as if it needed more complimenting) and re-affirms that Von Trier has made a masterpiece.

Nymphomaniac Volume 2 trailer

You know a Lars Von Trier movie is good when it feels like you’ve just spent two educationally arousing hours in the university for the cinematically gifted. As soon as Von Trier announced that his next movie was going to be called Nymphomaniac, the general murmur from everyone was “there goes Lars again!” When he announced that it will be centred around one woman’s rampant sexual experiences with hundreds of partners and that it will be his longest movie ever, the general consensus was “that crazy Lars just doesn’t stop!” But what no one expected was that Von Trier was on his way to making his most accessible movie to date, while still managing to push envelopes, burn bridges, laugh in the face of etiquette and brandish his middle finger to the foppishness of society’s flimsy facade.

After a prolonged darkness during which nothing but the organic sound of water drops on metal is heard, a bloody woman (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is revealed to be lying on the cobblestones. In the first of many outbursts of ingenuity, sounds of Rammstein barge in on the soundtrack, as if uninvited, while Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard) quietly buys his milk and notices the unconscious woman in the alley. She prefers a cup of tea with milk over an ambulance and the police, so Seligman opens his door to her and agrees to nourish her back to health. An unmistakable kind of magnetism instantly develops between the two and, importantly, with zero hint of sexual tension. Seligman sits transfixed by the bedside to hear Joe’s story and what brought her to this point of apathy and self-loathing.

Joe tells her story in chapter form, and in Vol. 1 we are presented with the first five chapters. Between Seligman’s excitable interruptions, to Joe’s narrative with comments on how her experiences parallel the art of fly-fishing, and the sensational creativity that peppers the flashbacks with delightful visuals, it’s clear that these are some of the most inspired chapters from the Lars Von Trier library. Not only is Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 refreshingly funny in so many moments but thanks to the playful structure, the intellectual dialogue and the fascinating personalities from Joe’s past (not to mention Joe and Seligman themselves) the picture is also incredibly compelling. The performances from Gainsbourg and Skarsgard are the anchors of a ship full of talent; Stacy Martin who makes her feature film debut as the Young Joe, a pleasantly surprising Shia LeBouf and the greatest Uma Thurman outside of a Tarantino movie you’ll likely ever see. Those are just the standouts, but Nymphomaniac is such an accomplished film that the only truly sore thumb is Christian Slater, who doesn’t quite reach the believable levels all his other colleagues do.

Naturally, the question salivating on everyone’s tongue concerns sex, and Von Trier wouldn’t want it any other way. Nymphomaniac has a “hardcore” and a “softcore” version, with the obvious intention being that the hardcore cut is the definitive director’s version. Unfortunately, the society that Von Trier so dearly loves to poke and provoke simply cannot handle a five hour hardcore Von Trier movie called Nymphomaniac. As such, the film was split into two volumes and the Vol. 1 that’s currently available on VOD across North America is the softcore version running just under 2 hours. Those not lucky enough to live in Denmark (the only country that got the chance to see the full frontal five-hour version) will most likely have to wait until the inevitable DVD/Blu Ray release to see the film as it was intended. The good news is that the softcore version is still a brilliant piece of modern cinema that has zero tasteless sex scenes.

What makes Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 the best film of the year so far (and on its way to loads of year-end top ten lists if Vol. 2 is this good, mine included,) is that it’s a fusion of everything that’s makes us love cinema. It’s intellectual without being pretentious, for the themes, motifs and messages it stimulates don’t suffer from delusions of grandeur. They really are that grand. Its invigorating entertainment is like a rare aphrodisiac you’ve only had in your dreams, making it almost impossible to turn away from the screen at any moment. It employs the means of cinema to the sophisticated degrees which erect the medium to the wonderful art-form that it is. And it dares to enter places rarely visited by others in order to present a psychologically perturbing tale about the most taboo of human conditioning. In other words, if Vol. 2 is equally as impressive as Vol. 1, Lars Von Trier has surpassed himself and created a masterpiece.

If there is one thing Lars von Trier does extremely well it is creating controversy. In 2011 the Danish filmmaker was deemed “persona non grata”, which is a subtle way of saying ‘you’re not fucking welcome here’ at the Cannes Film Festival after making some Nazi remarks. Continuing that trend of controversial moves, von Trier has just released a series of 14 character posters for his upcoming film Nymphomaniac. His new film follows a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac named Joe (played Charlotte Gainsbourg) who recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her life. Given the subject matter and who is doing the film, what better way to promote Nymphomaniac than having posters of all of the characters reaching climax in the nude?

Below are all 14 character posters for Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac

Lars von Trier, the Danish controversial out-spoken director, delivers his least controversial film of his career, Melancholia. The film centers around two sisters who are both psychologically ill and must deal with the tragedy that world will end when a rogue planet named Melancholia approaches Earth. It is one of the most captivating opening sequences of the year and will instantly get you hooked. But it is an art-house type of film that demands patience from the audience for most of it’s duration.

Melancholia is divided into two parts; the first part is called “Justine”. Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and her newly wedded husband Michael (Alexander Skarsgard) show up two hours late for their own wedding reception. As they are about to enter the reception, they notice an unusually bright red star in the sky and take the time to admire it despite already being so late. You can tell that something is bothering Justine, as she disappears throughout the reception to be by herself. Justine acts as if she is going to fall asleep on more than a couple occasions and at one point takes a bath instead of cutting the cake.

At the halfway point of the film, there is not a whole lot we know about Justine yet. The plot also does not advance a whole lot in the first hour. Still, the film does not lose your attention as you get a sense that it is building up to something. It feels like the film was almost shot in reverse as we are shown the characters in action before knowing anything about them, as it turns out that is what the second part is about.

The second part of the film called “Claire” and is in the point of view of Justine’s sister named, you guessed it, Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Suddenly, the film starts giving us more background on the characters and the story. The red star they mentioned at the beginning is in fact the planet Melancholia, which is supposed to pass by Earth in 5 days. At least that is what the scientists are saying; Claire is worried that they might be wrong.

Unless you were not paying attention, the opening sequence gave away the film. The planet does collide with Earth and the end of life as we know it is looming. But knowing that does not take away from the film, knowing that only adds to it. There are many transformations in the film but the most obvious one is the characters themselves.

It turns out that Justine is extremely depressed to the point of barely functional without Claire. Claire battles with her own illness with anxiety about Melancholia. Justine does not help with the anxiety when she tells Claire that “Life on Earth is evil” and there will not be much time left on it. As the planet approaches Justine seems to become more relaxed and normal than ever while Claire is basically switching roles with Justine. It is as if Justine is represented as Melancholia and Claire is represented as Earth, it may be stretch but the paths of destruction links them together.

Beginning shots of slow motion were captured fantastically and had a perfect score to go along with it (Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde). Showcasing people in their last moments before the plant Melancholia collided. We see lightning coming from Kristen Dunst’s finger tips and her laying in her wedding dress on water with her eyes closed. The beginning and ending scenes were phenomenally well shot and hard to forget.

Kirsten Dunst won Best Actress at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for her role of Justine. Dunst does an amazing job of playing an unhappy person who cannot deal with everyday normal activities but can deal with the world ending. Charlotte Gainsbourg (who worked with von Trier in Antichrist) does an equally impressive job with her supporting role as the supporting sister.

Melancholia is perhaps the best “end of the world” film as it does not try to sugarcoat anything or use a far-fetched sci-fi solution to magically resolve the impending doom. Instead, it shows us paths of destruction in multiple ways, psychologically through Justine’s character and physically with the planet Melancholia. While the beginning and ending scenes are brilliant, the middle section is so-so. At the very least, I think most people can agree it is an ambitious film that you can admire from a technical standpoint.