COLOGNE, Germany — Keeping contrarian, “persona non grata” of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival Lars Von Trier may screen the XXX version of his latest two-part sexual epic “Nymphomaniac” at the festival’s next go-around in 2014.
The news arrives via the Norwegian folk at Montages, who said in a recent post that the decision is particularly surprising for the Danes — it was assumed that the film, slated to premiere in Denmark in December, would be the explicit cut. Now it is expected that it will actually be the softcore version.
“This is quite sensational, since many have taken it for granted that the softcore version was exclusively intended for markets outside Europe — which is generally quite liberal in regards to sexual explicit material in films,” Montage reporter Lars Ole Kristiansen wrote.
Reportedly running more than five hours, “Nymphomaniac” made a large media stir after it was announced that the film, already expected to contain ample graphic nudity, would actually feature an innovative technique in which its stars’ faces (including Shia LaBoeuf, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Uma Thurman) are grafted onto the bodies of porn star stunt doubles engaging in hardcore sex.
It is rumored that 2014 Cannes-goers will be the first to witness the film in its twisted, unadulterated form despite the fact that Von Trier was banned from Cannes in 2011 for his polemic, somewhat incoherent assertion that he was “actually a Nazi” and that he understands and sympathizes “a bit” with Hitler.
Cannes Artistic Director Theirry Fremaux made a statement signaling that pariah Von Trier may very well be welcomed back into the fold: “He was declared ‘persona non grata’ for 2011 and was never declared ‘persona non grata’ forever,” he said. "The day he has a film ready in time for Cannes we will talk about him again."
“Nymphomaniac” stars Gainsbourg as Joe, a self-diagnosed nymphomaniac who recounts her life story to Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard), an old, charming bachelor who finds Joe beaten up in an alley.
The film’s release date has been altered quite a few times, and was originally scheduled to screen at Cannes last May, but is now set to release Christmas Day in Denmark.
