Nymphomaniac I. Is not about the sex, is about the rest.

It's been more than a week since I watched Nymphomaniac Volume I and yet I'm still not completely sure of what to write. Is not that I didn't like it. In fact I think I liked it much more than any other of Lars Von Trier's films, but how to explain it is what has been holding me from writing this. 

Let me start by the obvious thing you are all thinking about: The Sex Scenes: Indeed there were plenty of sex scenes, nothing to complain about this, but they were not scandalous. It was pretty straightforward sex, it served to picture how often and how casual this girl had sex, but besides that, the sex scenes were nothing outrageous (not even close to Almodovar's or the lesbian scenes of "Blue is the Warmest Color"). 

Said this, I will get a little more technical because, what really captured my attention and interest in this film, is how the filmmaker adventures into the use of graphics, split screens, black and white chapters, vintage colored sets, storytelling and, the unexpected, great sense of humor.   

This a movie that intends to tell the chronological story of a self diagnosed Nymphomaniac, which she narrates herself. It is intended to be a dialogue between her and a man who rescued her from an accident, but the truth (and geniality) is that she tells her story more into a state of monologue, while the man tries to extrapolate her Nymphomania to other elements of life so random as fly fishing, Fibonacci numbers or Bach music. It sounds super weird but it actually gave it a sense of humor and originality to the storytelling that I thought was brilliant. 

The other visual elements throughout the film like inserting graphics to explain situations, introduce titles and chapters to the story, split screens to compare situations were the original and differentiating visual elements that tell you how mature and self-confident this filmmaker is. This, in fact, is the art of filmmaking. Playing around with the elements, with the tools, with techniques, breaking standards, changing patterns. 

I wouldn't say this is an excellent movie, but I would still recommend watching it because it is a good movie, with excellent use of visuals, originality and artistic content that only filmmakers like Lars Von Triers can master with such grace. 

Excited about Volume II. Let's see how much more sex this girl ends up having and how much more geniality can Lars Von Trier bring...