Monday, April 7, 2014

Nymphomaniac: Vol. II

Nymphomaniac: Vol. II is a descent into hell. Where Vol. I was a (mostly) safe and playful story of a young girl exploring her sexual impulses, Vol. II is a brutal, unflinching depiction of addiction consuming a lifelong addict. There are no montages of joyous sexual discovery, no “chocolate sweeties” to be won for marathon banging; instead, there is a brightly lit torture dungeon of pain, and wet towels used as tools of agonizing restoration. Vol. II is an exercise in chaos – as in, chaos reigns, and Lars von Trier couldn’t be happier.

I love movies that show me something I’ve never seen before, no matter how obscure and dangerous it might be. My cinematic tastes thrive on the darkness of human nature, but the problem with Nymphomaniac: Vol. II is that it rarely depicts its carnage in a compelling way. That’s not to say the film doesn’t have its moments, but for the most part, it’s diluted by its own shock.

As Vol. II begins, Joe (Stacy Martin) and her first sweetheart, Jerôme (Shia LaBeouf) are still ripe with discovery, but, as the present day Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) continues to relay her story to Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård), we gather that young Joe will soon tumble down. Her fall begins with her physical loss of sexual sensation. She feels nothing, and her life is all but ruined because of it. Jerôme reluctantly encourages Joe to seek sexual pleasure elsewhere, a bold decision that quickly proves disastrous. Life goes on, Joe and Jerôme become parents, and Charlotte Gainsbourg seamlessly, fully assumes the role of Joe.

That’s when things go completely off the fuckin’ rails.


In a last ditch effort to rejuvenate her sexual appetite, Joe begins seeing K (Jamie Bell), a mysterious man who beats the living shit out of middle aged women who are eager to bow to the mercy of his fists. I could continue describing what Joe puts herself through, but in all honestly, I’m tired. I was tired watching the film, and I’m tired writing about it. This film uses violence so routinely, I actually grew desensitized to it. In fact, I was often so bored that I found myself unwilling to accept additional material.

For example, late in Vol. II, the film puzzlingly establishes a plot for the first time. Up until this point, the entirety of Nymphomaniac has been a character study of one woman’s life struggle, but when Joe enters the debt collection business, her character is given a cheap motivation: collect money using her skills, and make money as a result. And, despite a spirited performance from Willem Dafoe as Joe’s boss, this whole plot is lazy and, by the film’s end, eye-rollingly convenient. 

The Seligman character continues to be the audience’s doppelgänger, a fitting device, considering the shift in Seligman’s attitude toward Joe’s behavior. In Vol. I, he defended her actions, convincing her that her past was nothing to be ashamed of. In Vol. II, his sentiments shift to shame and aversion. There’s one act in particular (which I don’t want to spoil ) Joe commits while working as a debt collector that repulses Selgiman. Much like the audience, the defender becomes the disgusted.
Earlier, I hinted at some worthy aspects of Vol. II, of which it is only fair to expand on. The acting, chiefly, is universally excellent. Charlotte Gainsbourg has more to do in Vol. II, and while I didn’t appreciate all of her character’s choices, I loved what Gainsbourg did with the role. She is holy dedicated to Joe for every moment of Nymphomaniac, and the film benefits greatly because of it.

Selgiman, too, is given more depth in Vol. II and Skarsgård handles it how Skarsgård handles everything, with complete command. Stacy Martin continues to confidently assert herself as a fearless actress, and Jamie Bell presents a fractured man that I would love to explore more (seriously, what the hell has that guy lived through?). But in truth, the one performance I can’t shake is Shia LaBeouf’s, who is responsible for the film’s best, most violent moment.

When Joe arrives home one evening after a visit with K, she finds Jerôme furious at the fact that she left their infant son unattended while she was out. What ensues is one of the most devastating movie arguments I’ve seen in some time. It goes on and on, with a Christmas tree glistening in the background as Jerôme taunts Joe into saying goodbye to their child. That is violence. That is pain. It’s a scene that shows the true hell of addiction, and the repercussions caused by it. If only the rest of the film was as compelling.

Nymphomaniac: Vol. I: B+ (my review)
Nymphomaniac: Vol. II: C+

18 comments:

  1. I find it somewhat odd that in a lot of the reviews I've seen/read for part II, people have enjoyed it less while I appear to be one of the few who thought it improved upon the first film. I didn't grow tired of the violence that K. delivered upon Joe in their scenes together - having done a bit of research into sexual gratification, I found that perhaps the most engrossing section of the entire film. For all it's violence and brutality, I found the master-slave relationship between the two engrossing and spine-tingling. While I do agree with you that the plot introduced by Willem Dafoe's character and everything that happened following it, did lead the film into more unbelievable territory that was perhaps more cliche than I would have liked, I still found myself wholly involved in where Lars was leading me. The only part I had a real problem with was how Selgiman's character resolved itself at the end of the film. I felt like that was kind of done to be provocative and wasn't really necessary. But good review nonetheless sir!

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    1. As always, I respect your opinion and love that you presented it in such an articulate way. It wasn’t just the K violence that I grew tired off, it was a lot of things (that I didn’t really feel like harping on in my review). I guess what I’m saying is, after 3 hours, I got the point, you know? And by that time, the Willem Dafoe “sub”plot was introduced, and while I initially welcomed the change of pace, I thought that ventured into cliché (as you perfectly described). I suppose I wonder if I would’ve A.) Liked watching one four hour film, without a month long gap, or B.) A three hour film total. Tough call.

      I really did like where Vol. II was initially going, but I got the point so early on, I didn't see the need to keep stretching it out. Still though, I think it's cool that you dug it more. We like what we like!

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  2. I skimmed, Alex.

    Because...f--k. I guess I'm in for this shit. Again.

    (I'll be back)

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    1. Hahaha, godspeed, my friend. Abandon all faith, ye who enter here.

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  3. I had thought about seeing the film in its two, shortened parts this month but I really want to see the longer version as I'm going to wait it out and see what von Trier was forced to cut out of the film for its shortened theatrical releases.

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    1. I'm dying to hear what you think of it. As a LvT fanatic, I think you'll love every minute.

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  4. I guess I liked this part a little more than you. I was v. impressed with Gainsbourg and though it was indeed a descent into v.v. dark stuff (which I was kinda expecting tbh), I was fascinated by a character like Joe. I am still not too sure what to feel about the ending. I do think it is mostly LVT's idea of a joke but I still want to understand what it might mean.

    I am definitely completely desensitised to watching sex and violence after this film.

    Oh and a movie on K would be v. interesting. Like what the fuck was that all about?

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    1. I loved K. In fact, he would make an excellent candidate for Sati's recent Spin-off blogathon. I loved that LvT didn't give any insight into that guy because, wow... so damn mysterious.

      I actually loved the ending and, personally, do not think it means anything more than what it is. That is LvT humor at its absolute darkest. Literally. I thought it was priceless. I think it's cool that you liked this Volume better though. You never can tell with LvT!

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    2. Oh no, I definitely liked vol 1 better. It's the most entertaining LVT film that I have seen.

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    3. Oh, oh right, you like it more than ME. Gotcha. Vol. 1 ranks with The Boss of It All as the most entertaining LvT film I've seen as well, because God knows he doesn't make 'em often.

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  5. Yes. Totally.

    "this whole plot is lazy and, by the film’s end, eye-rollingly convenient." I was so done with the film by the time the debt collector plot came around. I thought it ended awfully.

    I did forget about that argument between Labeouf and Gainsbourg, but that was one of the best moments of Vol 2.

    I am tired of this film. I work at a cinema and every time I sell a ticket to this film there is a conversation about it.

    Do you know it is in two volumes/4 hours?

    What do I think of it? Are you sure you want to know?

    Haha.

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    1. Oh God, I remember those conversations when I worked at a theater. I always got in trouble with my managers because people would buy a ticket and ask me what I thought about a film, and if I didn't like it, I would tell them. I always offered "Are you sure you want to know?" as well, BEFORE telling them I didn't like it, but still. No one wants to pay $13 for a movie ticket, then be told the movie is garbage, but that's the way it goes, I suppose.

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  6. I had a similar response to this. I've only see a couple of von Trier films but I found them each so powerful ... kinda disappointed that this film, for all its interesting ideas and thoughts on art, could never cohere into something greater than a sum of its parts. Good review.

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    1. Thanks man, fully agree with your comment. It never came together for me as much as I thought it wanted to. I appreciated certain aspects of Vol. II, but it was consistently missing that coherence for me.

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  7. I liked this one less than the first part too, but I'd still give both parts a combined A. I love that everyone is so divided on LvT's latest. Glad you dug the performances (again) by the way, especially LaBeouf. I'm still waiting on that one performance from him that blows everyone away.

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    1. Yeah man, that's what's so great about LvT: the insanely diverse reactions his films spawn. I too think LaBeouf has that One. Great. Role. in him. Still waiting...

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  8. I've just listened to the Nymphomaniac podcast you did with Ryan McNeil and I remembered I didn't read your review of the second part. I couldn't agree more with you. I felt the same with this second part. The whole film was a bit disappointing for this part. I expected more from Gainsbourg. I mean, not from her as an actress, she did well, but that von Trier would have used her better here. And same with Dafoe and Bell, I'd loved to see more of them.

    Even though there were some things that I liked a lot. One of them was the little Jean-Marc Barr scene, that contained the digusting reaction as you've said. With just a few minutes on screen he was amazing. Same with Skarsgård, I loved Seligman’s reactions to Joe’s story. And finally the LaBeouf-Gainsbourg-baby moment. I didn't like much the previous scene 'cause it was like “Antichrist’s happening again”. I think von Trier wanted to mess with us with that ‘cause I was like: not again, please. But the following scene with Jerôme telling her she had to say goodbye to the kid... that was the most heartbreaking thing I've seen in a while. Gainsbourg always makes me suffer, I really empathize with her on screen, one of the reasons why I like her so much, and LaBeouf was awesome there, you're totally right. It showed a side of his character that we haven’t seen before.

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    1. So cool that we're right in line here. From our criticism of the volume, to our appreciation of it. That argument scene really shook me up - by far the most brutal scene in either volume.

      And when I told Ryan on the podcast that this volume of Nymphomaniac makes a few very obvious parallels to LvT's other films, that baby scene was one thing I was talking about. When I saw that happening, I was like, "Oh come on man." Thankfully, he held some back this time.

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