Saturday, November 23, 2013

Nymphomaniac (2013): Are the Sex Scenes Real?

Sex Scenes Real and Digital

Nymphomaniac 2013 theatrical poster

This week, Lars Von Trier’s film titled ‘Nymphomaniac’ released its first trailer. It was deemed too explicit on YouTube and was taken down from the site. According to IMDb.com, a “self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.” The movie has a
star-studded cast containing Charlotte Gainsbourg, Stellan Skarsgard, Shia LaBeouf and Uma Thurman.

A question that popped into my head after finding out about the movie is “how much of the sex scenes are real?” Initially LaBeouf stated that the sex scenes will be real. This was a year ago. He wasn’t being truthful, but he wasn’t lying as well. According to producer Louise Vesth, there will be real and edited scenes. 

To the Hollywood Reporter, she said this.

“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. So above the waist it will be the star and the below the waist it will be the doubles.”

So it may seem that the actually celebrity cast didn’t do anything out of the ordinary, but the sex scenes in the film are extremely… authentic-looking. I can’t come up with another word. While this fact about body doubles may reduce the significance of the movie, some cast members took desperate measures to get roles in the feature. LaBeouf sent an actual sex tape of his to the director to get involved with the production. I don’t think any other mainstream actor has done such a deed before, except in the adult film industry. 

I saw the trailer, and I must say that it seemed disjointed, trying to fuse slow, melodious music with rock hits. While the music at the beginning and the end seemed out of place, I could see how the movie plans on building up its premise around nymphomania, and there’s definitely bound to be a chapter on childhood trauma or the like, as we do visit the main character’s teenage years in the trailer. I’m not completely sold by the idea, but my curiosity has been peaked, especially since so many well-known celebrities are attached to the production.

To watch the trailer:

Sources: 

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