The movie has gained notoriety for pushing boundaries both narratively and visually.
Split into two volumes, the story centers on a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac who recounts her life after being discovered beaten in an alley by an older man.
Across eight chapters, she shares details from birth to age 50, exploring her sexual experiences, relationships, personal struggles, and addiction, while the man listening offers intellectual and often unusual interpretations of her story.
Graphic sex scenes spark viewer warnings
Because the film includes real-life sex scenes created through a combination of performance and digital effects, some viewers have taken to social media to warn others about watching it in shared spaces.
“If your planing to watch Nymphomaniac pt.1 & 2. Watch it alone,” one person wrote. Another added: “I feel like I should probably watch Nymphomaniac alone… Don’t ask questions.”
Before the film’s release, producer Louise Vesth explained the production process in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter at Cannes.
“We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles who really did have sex and in post we will digital impose the two,” Vesth said. “So above the waist it will be the star and the below the waist it will be the doubles.”
Critical reaction is divided but often passionate
Critical response to Lars von Trier’s project leaned positive overall, though reactions varied significantly between the two installments.
Volume one holds a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, whilst volume 2 scored 59%.
Some critics praised the film’s ambition, performances, and unconventional storytelling style.
“With its wildly absurdist obscenities, fearlessly bold performances and wilfully indulgent lack of structure, Nymphomaniac provokes the now familiar symphony of sighs, gasps and laughs,” one reviewer wrote.
Another said: “Outrageous, inspired, infuriating, puerile, confounding, cruel, beautiful, funny – Nymphomaniac is a film you can’t dismiss with a simple ‘good/not good’.”
Others were more critical, arguing that the film felt emotionally distant or excessively explicit.
“For those who don’t equate sexual appetite with the intricacies of fly fishing, Nymphomaniac: Vol. 1 is more tiresome than titillating,” one reviewer penned. “Nymphomaniac is a peculiar, downbeat and decidedly male view of a woman’s appetites, not an honest assessment of her multifarious desires.”
Both volumes of Nymphomaniac are currently available to stream on Netflix and Kanopy in the USA.