This film is everything I wanted it to be. Haven't seen every von Trier film but this is my favorite of his and perhaps it is the best serial killer film ever made, at least if you narrow it down to the killer-POV films (American Psycho, Henry, etc.) rather than cop-POV (Se7en, Silence of the Lambs, Zodiac, etc.).
The film is structured like Nymphomaniac with stories being told in chapters in the context of a confession to a third party. There are a bunch of philosophical discussion about art running through the film which some people will find pretentious but I enjoyed the high-minded banter mixed with absolutely mad setpieces that go where few other directors have gone before. There are three scenes in particular which has made reviewers clutch their pearls ("will someone please think of the children/ducklings/breasts") and I think the negative and laughably selfrighteous reviews are doing a psychological assessment of von Trier rather than actually reviewing his movie. Yeah, hes probably not someone you want to invite to a dinnerparty but that's hardly the point. The film is fucking brilliant.
Hes basically the Kanye of cinema at this point. A tremendous artist being shitted on by small minds.
