The cinema version of Lars Von Trier's new film Nymphomaniac may be a draining four hours long, and split into two halves for its release, but the full uncut film extends to a truly marathon five and a half hours. This latter version can now be enjoyed – perhaps masochistically – at the Berlin Film Festival, where it will receive its premiere.

"Berlinale audiences will be the first to see the long uncut version of Nymphomaniac Volume I," said festival director Dieter Kosslick. "The aesthetic he has created in Nymphomaniac is impressive and radical." The film will play out of competition at the festival.

The film stars Charlotte Gainsbourg as a sex addict recounting her sexual experiences throughout her life, with characters played by Jamie Bell, Shia LaBeouf and others.

The longer version is even more sexually explicit than the cinema cut. Producer Louise Vesth, talking to Screen Daily, said that the cuts were made purely to get the film into cinemas. "This was the way to even make the film at all," Vesth said. "It's a way for the broader public to be able to see the film. Both versions are suitable for the public, but of course when you go very explicit you will squeeze the possibilities of distribution." The shorter version is designed to make it past censors across the world, rather than each censor board make their own cuts.

Von Trier's producing partner Peter Aalbaek Jensen said earlier in the year that the cuts were "against Lars' own will", but Vesth denied this. "that's definitely not the case – Lars told me he was happy that we could do it this way... It's in his interest that the film is able to be seen in the different territories."

Vesth also recently confirmed that there would also be a Nymphomaniac internet video series, though it's not yet clear what format it will take.

In the Guardian's first review of the film, Xan Brooks described it as "a bruising, gruelling experience" that "bludgeons the body and tenderises the soul. It is perplexing, preposterous and utterly fascinating... To blunder in on Nymphomaniac is to catch the sight of a middle-aged Dane masturbating alone in a darkened room. It may be sensational, it might even be art. But I'm not sure it is intended for public consumption."