We’ve seen the posters covered in O-faces, we’ve heard buzz about its reported five-hour length and the fact that it will be split into two films, we’ve seen the trailer that pushed the limits of YouTube’s standards and practices as far as it could go, and we saw a news report about how the trailer was supposedly shown before a screening of Frozen. After all this controversy and publicity, Lars von Trier’s film Nymphomaniac has finally been given a U.S. release date. The film, which will indeed be in two parts totaling 4.5 hours in length, will premiere on VOD on March 6th and April 3rd, and in theaters on March 21st and April 18th. Both films will premiere ahead of the U.S. on Christmas Day in Denmark.
The film concerns Joe (Charlotte, Gainsbourg), a self-described nymphomaniac who is taken in by Seligmann (Stellan Skarsgard) and tells him the story of her life and various sexual encounters. The first part, centered on her younger years, stars Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater, Uma Thurman, Connie Nielsen and Udo Kier, and the second part, focusing on her older years, stars Jamie Bell and Willem Dafoe. Many of these actors have appeared in earlier von Trier projects, which is probably why they were willing to sign up.
Producer Louise Vesth explained that they didn’t want to release the film at Christmas or all at once because “Unless it’s the holiday season, I don’t think people will have the time to take four-and-a-half-hours off to watch both movies back-to-back,” ignoring the possibility that most people wouldn’t want to spend that much time watching graphic sex at the time of year when most people are with their families.
The announcement also stated that a longer, 5.5 hour director’s cut will appear sometime after the theatrical release, possibly at Cannes.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
