The photo was released at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday to keep building buzz for Nymphomaniac, director Lars Von Trier next film which debuts in Denmark on Christmas day.
As the Hollywood Reporter points out, the shot has been rendered to look like a religious Renaissance painting. Von Trier says that religion is a key theme in the film, which recounts the encounters of a sex addict (Gainsbourg).
This visual sexual innuendo style was done better (in my opinion) in classic, award-winning ads for sleazy Club 18-30 (see them here: one, two).
Other notable scenes from the shot: Stellan Skarsgård getting a shoe to the crotch (back right); Willem Dafoe getting his crotch stain cleaned (middle of shot); Uma Thurman (middle left), her leg on a table, exposes herself for Udo Kier; Connie Nielsen (right) flashes a man holding two cherry-topped ice cream cones; and director Von Trier (back) is taking a digital photo of the escapades with a piece of tape over his mouth — probably a reference to his Nazi comments in Cannes two years ago which got him banned for life from the Festival.
Still of Gainsbourg from the set
A teaser poster for the film.
