As the monthly teasing continues for Lars Von Trier‘s sex odyssey “Nymphomaniac,” there continues to be one surprise after the next when it comes to the film. We’ve already learned recently that the two-part film may run as long as five hours, and that a TV spinoff is apparently in the works. But could Von Trier’s latest be his ticket back onto the Croisette after being deemed persona non grata in 2011?
It looks like it could be, as our Norwegian pals Montages are reporting that while “Nymphomaniac” will still open in Denmark and Norway at Christmas, it will be the softcore cut, with the hardcore version premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Impossible, you say? Well, you might not remember, but earlier this year Cannes honcho Thierry Fremaux essentially said Von Trier would be welcomed back at the fest. “…he was declared ‘persona non grata’ for 2011 and was never declared ‘persona non grata’ forever,” he explained, adding: “The day he has a film ready in time for Cannes we will talk about him again.”
Of course, it’s still a long time until Cannes, and anything can happen, and it’s not clear that even if it does play the festival, whether or not it will be in competition. Our guess is that it won’t be, as it will have played other territories before Cannes, with the only distinction being the digitally substituted body parts of the film’s stars heads on the porn stunt double bodies. And we’d wager if a Cannes discussion is happening, distribution elsewhere in the world will be held off as long as possible, until after the Cannes bow.
As usual, nothing is official (Cannes doesn’t announce their lineup until next spring) but it seems these guys have the line to some folks close to the movie and given the massive scope and scale on Von Trier’s film—not to mention the buzz—holding the spicier version to play out for international press at Cannes doesn’t seem unlikely. Moreover, we can only guess the idea of Von Trier returning to Cannes with a five hour sex movie, tickles the provocateur director to no end.
