Review for Nymphomaniac Vol 1 and 2 Director's Cut

Director's Cut. Usually that means that the film was taken away from the Director for whatever reason before it was released. Sometimes this is due to Ratings issues, sometimes it is due to conflicts with Producers and sometimes it is just because it's what needs to be done. There are many examples of the Director's Cut being the saviour of a movie.

This is not one of those examples.

I previously reviewed Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac and that review can be found here. I won't go over the rights and wrongs of a film that is essentially a porn film with a loose plot about a character's desire to understand their own sex addiction in life. The fact is, you will either love or hate the film. If you loved it, no doubt you will welcome to ninety minutes added onto the already bloated film which had to be split into two parts. If you hated it, no doubt you will have no intention of watching it anyway. Or will you? Sometimes, as I said, the Director's Cut makes the film better such as Bladerunner or Heaven's Gate. But no. This film does not right any of the post-modern smugness this film has to offer, instead just piles more on top of it with even more nonsensical philosophical musings from the characters and of course more and more sex.

When I reviewed the previous version, I thought the sex was explicit and pushing the boundaries of the 18 Certificate. With this one, I am truly shocked how it got passed through when there are other lesser graphic films which were banned for many years. Maybe we have become numb to the sex or maybe we just need a lot more to shock us. However, this is as close to a porn film as you can get without actually watching one.

It would be difficult for me to say where are the additional ninety minutes are, not without watching the films side by side and even with general pointers I still couldn't tell. There are of course several scenes that have been added and much like The Max Rebo Band from the Return of The Jedi Special Editions they add nothing to the film. Notable is an abortion scene which made me want to throw-up and I can understand why people had such a strong reaction to it when it was screened. Other new additions seem to be just extensions of sex scenes and different angles for better views of nudity.

There are no new features which is a little odd. You would think if the company went through the effort of creating or releasing a 'Director's Cut' that they would have some people commenting on WHY? We know why they released the ones for the other films, right or wrong, but to just release them with none of that makes you wonder was this just an excuse to get fans of the film, or those curious to pay out to see what was cut out. This is much like when they release the latest horror film and then put an 'Unrated' version for home video. I understand why they do it, but generally they give their reasons. This does not.

I would love to say the film is better for being complete, but it's not. This is the second time I have had to sit through this pretentious, pointless and utterly vile film. When I originally watched it, I praised the somewhat 'Dickensian' nature of the narrative and the story that was being told, but on reflection I'm not sure what this film was trying to say other than 'Here is a woman who was a Nymphomaniac. Let's see what exploits she gets up to.' I didn't enjoy watching it and the extra ninety minutes made both films drag. If you enjoyed the original versions you may want to think twice before watching this version.