Joe’s continued dialogue with Seligman permits Von Trier to digress on a variety of cultural, intellectual, and philosophical ruminations, punctuating the sexual phantasmagoria with welcome moments of robust humour and absurdity. Seligman admits that he is an asexual virgin as Joe regales him of her encounters with Jerome (Shia LaBeouf), with whom she falls in love, and her BDSM adventures with Jamie Bell’s unnamed character. Uma Thurman, Christian Slater, and Willem Dafoe also appear in Von Trier’s cheekily outrageous diptych.

Notes by David O’Mahony

Screening as part of Lars von Trier: Enduring Provocations. Multi-film pass available.