Nothing says Christmas quite like a four-hour long hardcore sex drama, right? Zentropa Entertainments seems to think so, announcing Lars von Trier's sure to be controversial Nymphomaniac will open in Denmark on Christmas Day. Zentropa CEO Peter Aalbæk Jensen told Deadline (with what we imagine is a healthy dose of playful sarcasm), “What’s more Christmassy than a film like this?” Of course the answer would be: most things.
Nymphomaniac is the latest collaboration between the polarizing writer-director and his recurring leading lady Charlotte Gainsbourg. Here she stars as Joe, a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac who recounts her life and sexual exploits from the past fifty years to the man who rescued her from a savage beating in the street. To date we've had a glimpse of what seems to be Joe before her savior's arrival, as well as an image that appears to be the beginnings of a threesome with her at the center. Above is a glamorous yet depraved new shot of the ensemble cast…and is that von Trier in the back with duck tape over his mouth? I think so.
Identifying the fetishes at play above almost seems like a saucy party-game. But instead, let's pick out some of its players, shall we? Gainsbourg is in the lower right corner in a green dress, being waited on by a casually dressed Christian Slater. To their left is Stellan Skarsgård in a robe, and Willem Dafoe getting wiped down mid-coffee spill. To his left Uma Thurman stands in a blue dress with Von Trier and Jamie Bell looking on. Then on the floor beneath a suggestively arranged fruit plate is Shia LaBeouf who has been the most outspokenly enthusiastic member of this cast. Can you pick out anyone else? Click the image for a full-size version.
Magnolia will be unveiling Nymphomaniac Stateside, but a release date has not yet been revealed.
