Hasta La Ideas

Lars von Trier knows how to attact the attention of the media. And he’s done it in style this week, with the release, via the internet, of a set of posters for his forthcoming movie Nymphomaniac, which picture a number of A list stars lost in the heat of the moment. The 14 posters are CR’s Ad of the Week.

Now, before you all run to the comments box, we know the ‘orgasm face’ ad has been done before. Frank Budgen shot a series of ads for Coco de Mer featuring ordinary folks on the brink of climax back in 2001, and Trojan also worked the style in 2004. And, as we noted in a blog post from 2009, gaming companies such as Sony have also run ads featuring close-up shots of people’s ‘game faces’, which are remarkably similar (make of that what you will). And before any of those, came (sorry) the book Headshots by Aura Rosenberg. However, there is something about seeing the expressions of famous stars in the throes that make these posters leap out. I’ve put all 14 posters below, but they include actors Jamie Bell (above – what would Billy say?), Uma Thurman, Willem Dafoe, Shia LaBeouf and Charlotte Gainsbourg, among others.

The simple text and full bleed character photos are also reminiscent of the classic poster campaign for Trainspotting too. But despite these similiarities, this online launch of the images has got everyone talking about the film, which isn’t even due to be released worldwide until next year. In a week where we’ve seen film companies use elaborate pranks for the promotion of new movies, it’s nice to see that a good old poster campaign can still do its job. Now, enough chatting, here are those pics…