Charlotte Gainsbourg doesn't think 'Nymphomaniac' is sexist.

The 42-year-old actress plays self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe in Volume 1 of the film which sees her recount her erotic past to the man who saves her from a beating, but it's not the first time she's taken on the role of a tortured woman with the direction of Lars Von Trier and she claims its less sexist than portraying a doll-like female character.

She explained: ''It's much more misogynistic to give a stupid part to a woman in films where they're just dolls. I find that much more insulting than having a torturous part.''

Charlotte stars in the film alongside 'Lawless' actor Shia LaBeouf and 'Kill Bill' star Uma Thurman and has worked with director Lars on two of his other controversial films 'Antichrist' and 'Melancholia' and says the characters he creates are based on his own inner torture.

She explained: ''Maybe there's a lot of torture, but that's who he is. He's portraying himself through women characters.''

Even as a young girl, the Anglo-French daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, she enjoyed filming violent scenes and says it's more important to telling a story than sex.

She told The Sunday Times newspaper's Culture magazine: ''You forget everything. There's no conscience to it. There's something there that is stronger than what you're obsessing over.

''There was a lot of expectation around the sex [in Nymphomaniac], and I feel the film happens elsewhere.''