Regarding the Pathology of Others? Narrating Female Hyper-sexuality in Nymphomaniac (2014)

Abstract

This article analyzes the therapeutic discourses in Lars von Trier's film Nymphomaniac (2014), exploring the deconstruction of the boundary between pathology and normativity, as well as the reconstruction of the relationship among audience, creator and film text. This article points out that Nymphomaniac consistently challenges the boundary between normativity and pathology through consciously engaging with the therapeutic discourses in the film, notably constructed through the dialogue between Seligman and Joe, and the reflexive gaze of the self in the group therapy scene, inviting the spectator into the meta-narrative game of the film. The ending of the film further challenges its own therapeutic structure: not only does the nymphomaniac narrative subject fire at the creator, the nymphomaniacal creator also shoots back at the spectator who expects a shocking ending from a transgressive art film, revealing that the audience has long participated in constructing the purpose and meaning of the artwork. This article thus argues that Nymphomaniac provokes spectatorial reflection not merely through the transgression of its content, but constructs a spectatorial game on the meta-level: by regarding pathology and madness as the source of creativity, the film forces the audience to face a dilemma—either forfeit the creative act to avoid the risk of falling into madness, or recognize that madness is actually part of normativity and they are already enmeshed in it. This article further suggests that the blurring of the boundaries between pathology and normativity, self and other in Nymphomaniac also reflects the relationship between extreme cinema and mainstream cinema: the transgressiveness of the former is defined by the norms set by the latter, and the gradual adaptation of the audience to the visual spectacle of extreme cinema has gradually weakened the provocative power of cinematic extremism. The reflexivity of Nymphomaniac provides a way out of this dilemma: instead of relying on the novelty of content to achieve subversion, the film implicates the spectator in the textual construction through reflexive re-examination of pathological sexuality, which is a narrative trope of transgressive cinema, and ultimately transforms the reflexive negotiation of hypersexuality between pathology and normativity into a reflexive spectatorship. This article holds that this negotiation completes the contested encounter between self and other not only in the cinematic space, but also beyond the silver screen, and provides a new approach for transgressive non-mainstream cinema to maintain its subversive potential.