The cast of ‘Nymphomaniac’

To say the least, we’ve already been teased with what auteur/provocateur Lars von Trier has up his sleeves with his latest film Nymphomaniac, and now Magnolia Pictures, who owns the U.S. distribution rights to the now two-part sex saga, has confirmed that the film(s) will hit North American art house theaters by next Easter.  Seems festive enough, considering the film will premiere in von Trier’s native Denmark on Christmas Day.

Nymphomaniac: Part One will be released on March 21, 2014, and Part Two will hit screens nearly a month later on April 18, 2014, also known as Good Friday.  The films stars von Trier muse Charlotte Gainsbourg (she previously starred in both Melancholia and Antichrist for the director, the latter of which earned her the Best Actress prize at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival) as a self-identified nymphomaniac telling her life story, one filled with sexually explicit trysts and tragedy, to a man who comes to her aid after being badly beaten.  The film, which IMDb currently states has a 330-minute running (hence the Kill Bill-like breakdown into two parts) also stars von Trier veterans Stellan Skarsgard (Melancholia, Dogville, Breaking the Waves), Willem Dafoe (Manderlay), Udo Kier (Breaking the Waves, Melancholia) and Jean-Marc Barr (Dogville) alongside more newbies to the troupe in the form of more familiar faces from the likes of Shia LeBeouf, Uma Thurman, Christian Slater and Jamie Bell.

Magnolia Picture also provided U.S. distribution for von Trier’s Melancholia, and like the previous film will make Nymphomaniac: Parts 1 & 2 available on VOD before its theatrical release.