Nymphomaniac is the highly anticipated new film from the legendary and controversial director Lars von Trier. Operatic in emotional scope and novelistic in structure, it is a sexually-charged odyssey told across two volumes. It tells the wild and poetic story of a woman’s journey from birth to the age of 50, as told by the main character, self-diagnosed nymphomaniac Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg). On a cold winter’s evening, charming bachelor Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård) finds Joe beaten up in an alley. He brings her home to his flat where he cares for her wounds while asking her about her life. He listens intently as Joe recounts the lusty branched-out and multifaceted story of her life, rich in associations and interjecting incidents.
Joe’s story begins in Volume 1.