Like most people, the first I heard about this film was the shocking news, certainly spread for publicity reasons, that it would feature big name actors and actresses having unsimulated sex. As it turned out, professional pornography performers were actually used and the faces of the familiar actors and actresses digitally composited onto the naked bodies. Combine this with the famous posters of the well known actors and actresses making orgasm faces, and it’s clear that the producers were going for maximum shock value. For this reason, I chose to watch only the first volume of the film for fear that it might turn out to be terrible.

In fact, while there are certainly sex scenes aplenty and in-your-face full frontal nudity, both male and female, I don’t find them to be exploitative or cheap at all. It’s obvious that the intent isn’t to arouse or even titillate, but to shock audiences out of their comfort zone and thereby tell stories about human drama. It’s really a collection of short stories about the life of a self-diagnosed, middle-aged nymphomaniac.

To be fair, the frame story is neither strong nor particularly plausible. It’s hard to buy not only how Stellan Skarsgård’s Seligman maintains unflappable equanimity in the face of Joe’s increasingly wild stories but also the way the obviously learned man connects them to his own treasure trove of knowledge. At the same time, the calmness of the setting, the reassuring personality of Seligman and the way Charlotte Gainsbourg carefully articulates her life story in dulcet tones can’t help but add gravitas to what is being said.

The quality of the individual stories varies. The painfully awkward scene with the aggrieved Mrs. H, played by an almost unrecognisable Uma Thurman, is surely one of the finest portrayals of passive-aggressive behaviour on film. By contrast, the attempt to capture the mixed emotions surrounding the death of the protagonist’s father, played by Christian Slater, falls flat for me. On the whole, the stories remain interesting and entertaining, if not particularly deep despite repeated allusions to music and literature. For me, watching Shia LaBeouf play a role so far outside his usual range is itself a special treat.

The film’s weakest point is that it feels too self-important at times yet to see it only for thrills and entertainment would become exploitative. Joe’s life story certainly is different enough from the norm that it inevitably draws our interest. But it isn’t clear that there are any moral lessons or reflections on the human condition that are unique to her situation. I enjoyed it well enough for what it is, but I’m not in a hurry to watch the second volume.