In the final moments of Lars von Trier’s “Nymphomaniac:
Volume I,” his self-loathing, sex-addicted heroine, Joe (played by Stacy Martin
as a young adult, and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a grown
woman), had gone sexually numb, discovering that she was suddenly incapable of
orgasm just as she had reconnected with her on-again-off-again lover, Jerôme (Shia LaBeouf).
“Nymphomaniac: Volume II” picks up right where we left off,
with Joe recounting her shockingly comprehensive sexual history to the bookish
Seligman (StellanSkarsgård),
though she’s jumped ahead slightly in her story. Joe is still with Jerôme, and remains unable to achieve orgasm. This hasn’t
stopped them from trying, however, and soon they have a child together.
Unsurprisingly, this does nothing to improve the situation. Jerôme
becomes convinced that he’s simply incapable of pleasing Joe, and gives her
permission to sleep with other men — shades of von Trier’s 1996 film “Breaking
the Waves,” adding further evidence to the theory that the director is actually
weaving a tale about his own creative history. It’s not long before Joe is back
to her old ways, now with a growing gravitation toward violence. Soon, she’s
neglecting her family completely in order to pursue a relationship with a
sadist called “K” (Jamie Bell, in an unnervingly reserved performance), who
ties her up and whips her mercilessly.
Her compulsion now more of an all-consuming addiction, Joe
makes a stab at attending group meetings for sex addiction — Joe prefers the
term “nymphomaniac,” but is informed that “sex addict” is the preferred,
politically correct phrasing. From here, I’m disappointed to say it feels that
the film loses its way, taking a rather inexplicable turn as Joe utilizes a
lifetime’s worth of knowledge on how to manipulate men in order to gain
employment as a debt collector for the mob. In addition to being the film’s
least plausible development, this marks a sharp shift in tone for the story. There are still brief moments of humor, but
they are few and far between, as the relatively warm humanity of “Volume I”
gives way to a darkly nihilistic tone in keeping with Joe’s increasingly
self-destructive behavior.
The ending is even more of a letdown, spelling out its
message through a grand bit of speech from Seligman leading into a dramatic
change in character that seems to undo much of what’s come before. This
development can’t help but feel like a bit of a “f—
you” to the audience, but considering von Trier’s typical m.o.,
that’s exactly how he wanted it. Still, the film remains compellingly watchable
throughout, largely thanks to Gainsbourg’s fearless
performance. Taken together, “Nymphomaniac: Volumes I & II” form a messy,
provocative examination of gender roles, addiction, and the insatiable thirst
for fulfillment which ultimately marks us all as humans.
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2014.
