Separated as two-part films, the plot follows Joe played by Gainsbourg and Martin , a self-diagnosed " nymphomaniac ," who recounts her erotic experiences to a bachelor who helps her recover from an assault. The narrative chronicles Joe's promiscuous life from adolescence to adulthood and is split into eight chapters told across two volumes.
The film was originally supposed to be only one complete entry, but, because of its length, von Trier made the decision to split the project into two separate films. Nymphomaniac was an international co-production of Denmark , Belgium , France , and Germany. It was nominated for the Nordic Council Film Prize. Nymphomaniac is the third and final installment in von Trier's unofficially titled Depression Trilogy , following Antichrist and Melancholia.
Highly educated but cloistered middle-aged bachelor Seligman finds nymphomaniac Joe beaten up and lying in the alleyway behind his apartment. He takes her to his home and listens as Joe recounts the story of her libidinous life. Seligman parallels much of what she has experienced with various methods of fly fishing, his favorite sport.
In her early childhood, Joe's father is a tree-loving doctor whom she adores, while her mother is, as Joe describes her, a "cold bitch". Several years later, Joe engages in a contest with her friend B during a train journey; whichever of the two women has sex with the most passengers by the train's arrival at the station wins a bag of chocolate. Joe wins after performing fellatio on S, a passenger in a first-class car and a married man who resists both her and B's advances until Joe forces herself on him.
Joe then relays her first experiences with actual love, which she dismisses as "lust with jealousy added". Joe takes on more lovers as she, B, and several friends create a club, "The Little Flock", dedicated to liberating themselves from society's fixation on love. Joe eventually leaves after all the other members end up developing serious attachments to their conquests.
