# Nymphomaniac - Lars von Trier: the Poll **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2013, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552 "2013-12-31T09:25:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/21 "2013-12-31T18:49:04Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > A family member really liked Melancholia. I hadn’t associated any names with it until this thread. > > I keep thinking I should at least give that movie a try. However… I have pretty much come to the conclusion that anything this family friend likes will be something that either annoys or bores me. So put me down for “probably won’t see.” There are some compelling images, but definitely fast-forward through the first 2/3. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/22 "2013-12-31T21:26:04Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > If I watch it at all, it will probably be in 5 minute spurts. I can’t decide if that’s impressive or a worrying medical condition. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/23 "2013-12-31T21:32:54Z")
I’ll watch clips to see how good the CGI is but that’s it. When I think of filmmakers Von Trier is at the bottom of the list. ---
**Author:** ![QueenOfClubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/53a042/32.png) [@QueenOfClubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenOfClubs)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/24 "2014-01-01T11:46:23Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Moving from IMHO to Cafe Society. Thanks for directing the thread to the correct sub-forum. > [@Grumman](#): > > It’s a movie about sex, and Shia LaBeouf is in it. No thanks. I would venture a guess that this film is as much about sex as “Magic Mike” was about male strippers. “Magic Mike” (directed by Soderbergh) was about dreams and hope and how that optimism get crushed or lost in the illusions/delusions people create or surround themselves with, over time. The club was simply a specifically chosen venue to let us watch the social and interpersonal interactions in such an environment, imho. > [@Tamerlane](#): > > I am done with Lars von Trier. Life is too short and I just won’t do unrelentingly bleak anymore ( and in von Trier’s case, also vaguely nasty ). I could see where a case could be made that von Trier’s films are bleak or violent. But imo, there is so much more there. My personal favorites at this time are “Breaking the Waves” and “Dogville”. Certainly von Trier is very dark and very stark in his storylines. But what I notice is his oddly hidden optimism, his belief in magic, in the inherent value and ethics of being “good” and of willingness to sacrifice. Unlike fare like “Last Exit to Brooklyn” or “Requiem for a Dream” (author the recently deceased Hubert Selby, Jr.) in which the characters are not sympathetic and the outcomes are all depressing, I find that comparatively Lars von Trier’s visions offer a sense of hope or a new beginning. “Once Were Warriors” (Lee Tamahori, New Zealand) is similar in that respect. The violence is not gratuitous and is, in itself, particularly graphic to make the point of the film, which is how awful domestic violence really is. I feel similarly about von Trier’s work. I think the use of ethics, magic and faith is obvious in “Breaking the Waves”, but even in “Dogville” you see self-awareness, a constant learning, a striving to become something truer without the lies of internal illusions. You just have to look harder. > [@Loach](#): > > I’ll watch clips to see how good the CGI is but that’s it. When I think of filmmakers Von Trier is at the bottom of the list. I almost missed being on to his films because the first one I saw I disliked immensely on the first view… “Dancer in the Dark.” I didn’t dislike it for being bleak, but frankly I found it boring and lengthy. After digging up more of his work, I watched it again and saw more value to it. Like Steinbeck, von Trier sees the world in a constant battle between good and evil, I think, and he plays in the shades of gray morality, but what really makes his themes stick is the magical element he weaves into them. I saw your name and thought of director Ken Loach. I’m fond of his work also. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/25 "2014-01-01T11:57:54Z")
“Breaking the Waves” is one of my all-time favorite films, but I didn’t like the couple of later Von Trier films I saw nearly as much, and I’ll almost certainly skip this one. So, like another poster said, you need another poll choice. ---
**Author:** ![QueenOfClubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/53a042/32.png) [@QueenOfClubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenOfClubs)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/26 "2014-01-01T12:07:17Z")
Hindsight is always 20-20 on Poll choices but I admit I’m delighted people vote here. I love voting on rancom Polls in and of itself, actually, and it’s a lot more fun when people participate. ---
**Author:** ![QueenOfClubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/53a042/32.png) [@QueenOfClubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenOfClubs)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/27 "2014-01-01T12:19:50Z")
I suspect the most daunting thing about this film will be the already controversial length of the production. The last film I saw that approached 5 hours was the Russian “Philosophy of a Knife” which was painfully annoying, inane, boring and poorly written, acted, directed and cut. Several hours of watching snow fall in the forest spliced with reenacted war atrocities via killing the same actors over and over in different ways because of a low budget, made “Philosophy” want to either gouge my eyes out and/or sue for my money back if I hadn’t found it in a $2 doco bin on sale. Sadly, getting my four hours back wasn’t an option. Nymphomaniac has to be better than that, at any rate. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/28 "2014-01-01T12:56:00Z")
> [@QueenOfClubs](#): > > I would venture a guess that this film is as much about sex as “Magic Mike” was about male strippers. “Magic Mike” (directed by Soderbergh) was about dreams and hope and how that optimism get crushed or lost in the illusions/delusions people create or surround themselves with, over time. The club was simply a specifically chosen venue to let us watch the social and interpersonal interactions in such an environment, imho. So this isn’t a movie about sex, it’s a way for Lars von Trier to masturbate on screen for five and a half hours? That makes it sound _so_ much better. ---
**Author:** ![QueenOfClubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/53a042/32.png) [@QueenOfClubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenOfClubs)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/29 "2014-01-01T23:59:20Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > So this isn’t a movie about sex, it’s a way for Lars von Trier to masturbate on screen for five and a half hours? That makes it sound _so_ much better. I think that would be closer, actually. I haven’t seen it yet since it hasn’t come out, but from interviews, I would guess it’s a five and a half hour therapeutic consideration of Lars von Trier coping with his confusion about his self-worth, his depression and his sexual adequacy through analogies and symbolism and sharing that with the world. Kind of like Cronenberg with his “Crash” or his “Videodrome”. ---
**Author:** ![QueenOfClubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/53a042/32.png) [@QueenOfClubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenOfClubs)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/30 "2014-01-02T00:00:26Z")
It’s not much more tempting for you that way either, is it? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/31 "2014-01-02T00:40:16Z")
> [@QueenOfClubs](#): > > My personal favorites at this time are “Breaking the Waves” and “Dogville”. > > Unlike fare like “Last Exit to Brooklyn” or “Requiem for a Dream” (author the recently deceased Hubert Selby, Jr.) in which the characters are not sympathetic and the outcomes are all depressing, I find that comparatively Lars von Trier’s visions offer a sense of hope or a new beginning. Hmmm…not sure I can agree. Or at least not to a degree that makes an effective difference. **Dogville** being a case in point. While yes, perhaps Nicole Kidman’s character is looking forward with sense of hope ( because things sure couldn’t get much worse than they were ) or a new beginning ( because, everything _has_ changed ), it’s in the context of the bleakest milieu ever. After suffering miserable abuse she has just graduated to thoughtful sociopath status like dear old dad. Yay for her! 😉 Not that you can’t sympathize with the character. And it is not that the film isn’t thought-provoking. And it’s not that Kidman sucks ( I’ve always defended her acting, I think she is more capable than her critics charge ). It’s that I simply can’t enjoy any of it. I don’t do Lars von Trier anymore for the same reason I no longer do fair like _Once Were Warriors_, _Brokeback Mountain_, most of John Steinbeck, Thomas Hardy or more recently China Mieville. I no longer derive entertainment from bleak and downer works of fiction. I’m okay with _dark_, I can enjoy moments of bleakness. But overall miserable? Nah, done. I’d rather gnaw open my own wrists than read/sit through _Jude the Obscure_ again. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/32 "2014-01-02T01:00:50Z")
> [@QueenOfClubs](#): > > It’s not much more tempting for you that way either, is it? 😛 No. If you can talk Uma Thurman into acting in your sex movie, you don’t get to whine about your life. ---
**Author:** ![QueenOfClubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/53a042/32.png) [@QueenOfClubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenOfClubs)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/33 "2014-01-02T04:29:57Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Hmmm…not sure I can agree. Or at least not to a degree that makes an effective difference. **Dogville** being a case in point. While yes, perhaps Nicole Kidman’s character is looking forward with sense of hope ( because things sure couldn’t get much worse than they were ) or a new beginning ( because, everything _has_ changed ), it’s in the context of the bleakest milieu ever. After suffering miserable abuse she has just graduated to thoughtful sociopath status like dear old dad. Yay for her! 😉 > > Not that you can’t sympathize with the character. And it is not that the film isn’t thought-provoking. And it’s not that Kidman sucks ( I’ve always defended her acting, I think she is more capable than her critics charge ). > > It’s that I simply can’t enjoy any of it. I don’t do Lars von Trier anymore for the same reason I no longer do fair like _Once Were Warriors_, _Brokeback Mountain_, most of John Steinbeck, Thomas Hardy or more recently China Mieville. I no longer derive entertainment from bleak and downer works of fiction. I’m okay with _dark_, I can enjoy moments of bleakness. But overall miserable? Nah, done. I’d rather gnaw open my own wrists than read/sit through _Jude the Obscure_ again. Perhaps hope was the wrong word. Self discovery is probably more accurate. I hope you find sociopath to be a negotiable word. If nothing else, the Grace character in the films consistently put the needs of others above her own and as noted, it didn’t get her anywhere good and it didn’t help them either. I prefer to think of it as Grace learning to REFUSE to cater to sociopaths, via experience. I find that uplifting. Of the U.S. Land of Opportunity series so far, many people perceive it the perspective as anti-American. I think it’s just anti-hypocrite and I find that hopeful and useful were his movies to make changes for people personally or for groups of people or for trends in how countries treat their own or other populations. I can’t say I derive entertainment from dour movies. I like to think I derive a better understanding of myself and the world and how we fit together by considering their point of view. I would suppose I approach American politics for the entertainment value. There is nothing to be derived from understanding any of it because we live in a plutocracy and can effect zero change. The whole country could rise up, and the elite will do whatever they want to anyway. At least with movies that lead to introspection, spending time on it has some value. ---
**Author:** ![QueenOfClubs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/53a042/32.png) [@QueenOfClubs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QueenOfClubs)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/34 "2014-01-02T04:31:33Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > No. If you can talk Uma Thurman into acting in your sex movie, you don’t get to whine about your life. Lol. Contraire, we are not the thought police nor censors. I have no interest in controlling what Mr. von Trier does or doesn’t whinge about. Will cede that I find his whinging interesting and you don’t which is fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/35 "2014-01-02T05:47:25Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > No. If you can talk Uma Thurman into acting in your sex movie, you don’t get to whine about your life. And he did it with just two words: “WHORING BED!” ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552/36 "2014-03-10T09:23:44Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I am done with Lars von Trier. Life is too short and I just won’t do unrelentingly bleak anymore ( and in von Trier’s case, also vaguely nasty ). I was almost there, but I decided to give this a shot. Just watched all of it last night. (It’s magic!) It’s not without flaw, but overall I’m amazed to say: it was kinda brilliant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nymphomaniac-lars-von-trier-the-poll/677552.md?page=1)