When Lars von Trier released Nymphomaniac in 2013, it immediately sparked controversy. Marketed as a poetic chronicle of one woman’s intimate life, the film follows Joe, who recounts her past after being found injured in an alley.
Told in two volumes, the story traces Joe’s experiences from youth to age fifty. Charlotte Gainsbourg portrays the older Joe, while Stacy Martin plays her younger self. Stellan Skarsgård appears as the solitary listener who engages her story with intellectual detours.