Diary of a Nymphomaniac

As you have probably noticed I haven’t done a full movie review since. Well, since I started this blog. But last night I saw a movie that I felt demanded a longer review. When I first saw it “Diary of a Nymphomaniac” on Netflix streaming, I figured it would be fun, sexy film. And in the beginning, it seemed like that was all it was going to be. But somewhere near the end of the 1st act, it started to become an interesting character study that also touched upon a few deeper issues/themes. By the end I fell in love with the movie. I was going to write a short review of this for Dans “best is yet to come” review series, but after thinking about it I felt this movie deserved something longer

Now, as someone who feels there is a double standard on women in what they can do in the bedroom compared to men(i did a essay in college on this subject, and i also did a speech on it in my public speaking class), any movie that dares to tackle that issue generally gets my interest. I’ve seen a couple of movies have flirt with this theme nut Diary of a Nymphomaniac tackled it head on in a way that felt refreshing to me. I found it admirable to see a film with the courage to do that.

Then movie also shows the danger of trying to give up who you are in order to fit society expectations. Valerie (the main character) feels ashamed of her sexual appetite and tries to suppress it and tries to have children in order to fit society’s expectations of what women are supposed to be. While i don’t want to spoil anything, this attempt doesn’t work out the way she plans it. I think this film is one of the strongest arguments for individuality I’ve seen in a while.

The movie also deals with the theme of men’s need to own women (There is one women with a similar urge to own/control others, so it does show women can exhibit this behavior towards other women)). This is where the movie ventures into darker territory, where the attempts by men to control Valerie include such drastic and reprehensible actions as rape. While those scenes are not super graphic but they do feel impactful as the director uses closeups during such scenes to make the audience see Valerie’s pain in uncomfortable detail. Despite those themes, the movie doesn’t portray all its male characters as the enemy.

One thing I have noticed in most films is that anytime a woman is shown as a sexual character, their sexuality gets tied to some issue or trauma in their past…in essence it is usually presented as a problem. This movie totally goes against that, which I happen to love. The voiceover in the movie also ends up adding to the movie, rather than coming of as a distraction like in most movies. The movie also has a specific scene that is told through basically all visuals, which is one of my favorite scenes from the movie.

The acting is great across the board in this movie. The lead actress Belen is amazing in the role and manages to convey a lot of info through body language and mannerisms. Leonardo is also notable in the role of Ben and pulls off the change in his character with ease.

The only complaint I have with the movie is that the end scene felt tame in comparison to everything leading up to it. Now, just to be clear I am not someone who needs graphic sexuality in a movie for me to like it (One of my favorite movies Ip man has no sex in it), but for me I felt like the final scene felt underwhelming. There was an intriguing minor plot point in the movie, and its conclusion in the final scene felt disappointing to me. But even with that in mind, I still love this movie

Now, as one would expect from the title the movie has plenty of graphic sexuality, which I realize that most of my followers aren’t a fan of. All I can say is that if it was just a collection of sex scenes, I wouldn’t be devoting time and energy to writing a review like this. This movie really struck a chord with me, which is why I felt like making this review even though I don’t think this fits the tastes of a lot of my followers. I generally try to avoid making two review posts in a row, but I wanted to write this while it was still fresh in my mind.