Manderlay (2005)

A story of slavery, set in the southern U.S. in the 1930s.

Director:

Lars von Trier (as Lars Von Trier)

Writer:

Lars von Trier (as Lars Von Trier)

Stars:

Bryce Dallas Howard, Isaach De Bankolé, Danny Glover

1 win & 15 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bryce Dallas Howard	...	Grace Margaret Mulligan
Isaach De Bankolé	...	Timothy
Danny Glover	...	Wilhelm
Willem Dafoe	...	Grace's Father
Michaël Abiteboul	...	Thomas
Lauren Bacall	...	Mam
Jean-Marc Barr	...	Mr. Robinsson
Geoffrey Bateman	...	Bertie
Virgile Bramly	...	Edward
Ruben Brinkman	...	Bingo
Doña Croll	...	Venus (as Dona Croll)
Jeremy Davies	...	Niels
Llewella Gideon	...	Victoria
Mona Hammond	...	Old Wilma
Ginny Holder	...	Elisabeth

Storyline

After gangster Mulligan's cars colony, fleeing northern justice, finds a hiding place in Alabama, spoiled, naive daughter Grace refuses to travel on after seeing the Manderlay cotton plantation being run under slavery rules, called Mam's law, inclusive flogging. She keeps half of dad's goons as guard to force the dying matriarch-owner's heirs, which she shamelessly dispossesses and reduces to 'staff', to taste destitution under absurd, gun-imposed contracts. The 'slaves' are made free partners, supposed to vote for progress after lessons from Grace. But almost all her democracy-pupils prove fickle, dumb and selfish, except old Willem. Her and their ignorance in Southern planting and crafty Dixie ways means more problems are created then solved. By the time dad returns to pick her up or abandon her for good, she's the one who has learned and changed the most.

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Plot Keywords:

male frontal nudity | female frontal nudity | gangster | slavery | cotton | 

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Taglines:

Liberation. Whether They Want It Or Not.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Denmark Sweden Netherlands France Germany UK Italy

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 June 2005 (Denmark)

Also Known As:

The Film 'Manderlay' as Told in Eight Straight Chapters

Filming Locations:

Denmark

Box Office

Budget:

$14,200,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

€11,766 (Netherlands), 4 September 2005, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$15,117, 29 January 2006, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$78,378, 30 March 2006

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$469,101, 21 April 2006

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zentropa Entertainments,Isabella Films B.V.,Manderlay

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The second film in Lars von Trier's third trilogy titled "USA - Land of Opportunities". The two other parts are Dogville (2003) and Wasington, which (as of 2017) hasn't been made.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: It was in the year of 1933, when Grace and her father were heading southward with their army of gangsters.

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Crazy Credits

An official Danish, Swedish, French, British, German and Dutch co-production in accordance with the 1992 European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production.

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Connections

Follows Dogville (2003)

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Soundtracks

Young Americans
Written and Performed by David Bowie
Courtesy of RZO Music, Inc.
Published by Chrysalis Music Limited
EMI Music Publishing Limited / RZO Music Limited

User Reviews

Von Trier 2, mankind zero

I was expecting something very inferior to Dogville, which is, but i forgot that it did not need to be as good to be great. Again, one or another person (many of them not very bright) will say that it's only anti-American crap, but, again, it's more, way more than that: a brutal critic to the idealism which recognizes no national barriers and can be applied to any ideology, without any exception that i know; Communism/Socialism and Christianism specially comes to my mind; Grace could be seen as the socialist leader who brings the Marxism and releases the workers (the slaves) from oppression of the bourgeoisie (Mam and her family), or the priest with the word of God to the savages (again the slaves), and punishing the sinners (Mam and her family one more time). The weak point is that aesthetically is not close to be as interesting as his previous film, and i think that Trier knew it and so the style is not so important here. Bryce Dallas Howard delivers a great performance, and does not try to imitate Nicole Kidman, but create her own vision of the character, like they were 2 sides of the same person. In my opinion, this one is only edged by Dogville in Von Trier's career.