Lars von Trier's extended director's cut of his four-hour epic — presented uncut, as he intended — follows Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a self-described nymphomaniac who recounts her erotic life from infancy to age fifty to the man (Stellan Skarsgård) who found her beaten in an alleyway. Across two volumes, von Trier fashions a sprawling, provocative, and darkly comic exploration of female desire, guilt, and the complexity of human need — featuring Uma Thurman, Jamie Bell, Willem Dafoe, and a towering performance from Stacy Martin as the young Joe.