Von Trier tackles underage sexuality in Nymphomaniac

He may have been permanently banned from the world's most prestigious film festival, Cannes, but you'd be hard pressed to find evidence that Lars von Trier is about to change his controversy-courting ways.

Having filmed scenes of genital mutilation and declared himself a Nazi, von Trier is now flirting with the issue of paedophilia.

The Danish director has announced that his next film will be called Nymphomaniac and will follow the sexual development of a woman from birth to the age of 50. It will be released in two versions, a toned-down cut for mainstream release, and a full 'hardcore' version.

"As a cultural radical I can't make [the film] without showing penetration," the 55-year-old told Entertainment Weekly. But although he has made several porn films before - Constance and Pink Prison are credited with making hardcore female-orientated porn acceptable in Europe - he insists that Nymphomaniac, despite the title, will not be one of them.

"It is principally a film with a lot of sex in it and also a lot of philosophy," he said in the interview.

More controversial will be the planned shots of a young girl masturbating. "Lars wants to see the sexual arousement of a girl [on screen]," his producer, Aalbæk Jensen, told the Guardian. "Of course you have some legal problems that you have to work around. Right now he's in the writing process."

But if von Trier's track record is anything to go by, the threat of disapproval from mainstream cinema-goers and critics is unlikely to cause much concern.

Antichrist featured scenes of such violence, including severe genital mutilation, that several people were reported to have fainted when it was premiered in Cannes in 2009. At this year's film festival, he was declared persona non grata after telling a press conference: "I understand Hitler."

And as if von Trier needed any more black marks on his name, it has now emerged that his film Dogville was cited as one of Norway killer Anders Breivik's favourite movies on his Facebook page.

The 2003 film, starring Nicole Kidman, ends with the brutal massacre of an entire village. But von Trier was said to be shocked at the news. "No film is worth 77 lives," he said. ·