Lars Von Trier’s people look to be playing crafty with the good folk at the Cannes Film Festival. As you will recall, in 2011, following unfortunate comments about Hitler, the event rather grandly declared the Danish film-maker persona non grata.

Pundits weren’t really wondering if they’d welcome him back with his tantalising new project, Nymphomaniac – there was never much chance that they’d reject such a high-profile movie.

To be released in both an explicit and a vanilla version, the film stars Charlotte Gainsbourg as a middle-aged woman who, yes, can’t quite get enough rumpy pumpy. Shia LaBoeuf, Willem Dafoe, Jamie Bell, Udo Kier and Christian Slater are also along for the (ahem) ride.

Peter Aalbæk Jensen, the film’s producer, has defused the situation by announcing that they were trying to have the picture ready for Cannes, but have decided the time frame is just too tight.

“Four editors were working around the clock to meet the Cannes deadline, but we had to give it up – after 268 script pages, 11 weeks of shooting and with 100 hours of material, it would have been [a race] to finish the two films in time for the festival,” he said.

Jensen added: “There is absolutely no bad blood between us.”

Mind you, one can’t entirely trust effusions from the Von Trier camp. An appearance at the bash in May is still not totally out of the question.