Manderlay

2005

2 hr. 19 min.

Drama

List

50%

105 Reviews

Tomatometer

75%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 1933 a young woman, named Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), and her father discover an Alabama plantation whose inhabitants live as if slavery had never been abolished. Feeling a sense of duty to the people behind the heavy gates, she stays to liberate the people and see them through their first harvest. With four of her father's colleagues and a lawyer, she faces the daunting task of resurrecting the place known as Manderlay.

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Critics Consensus

Manderlay may work better as a political statement than as a film, making its points at the expense of telling a compelling story.

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dan m

Well, this was certainly different. It's a play, but with community college level production value. Willem Dafoe is a movie bookend here, appearing at the very beginning and the end. Bryce Dallas Howard's character is the lead, playing the role of a 1930's gangster's daughter come to "save the day" at a plantation in Alabama which still has slavery going on. It takes an unexpected turn at the end, along with a scene near the end you would've thought would be on BLACKED.com(not that I know what that is.. :ahem:) It's an interesting movie, I'll give it that.. just a tad too long though.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A sort of spiritual succesor to the wonderful film Dogville, Manderlay tells a story about slavery now with racism against black people as its main subject, in many ways surpassing its predecesor in many ways but failing in others. Overall, the movie is not only 1 hour shorter than Dogville, but it also feels more focused and the political and social messages it sends are nicely told under a creative and entretaining plot filled with characters that coudlve been fleshed out way better, but ultimately serve their goal, all wrapped up nicely under Von Triers signature dramatic style and all the high points of a historical drama about slavery.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

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alex k

My Favorite Film Is 1941's Citizen Kane.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Manderlay is a monumental load of art house horse shit and the worst film Lars von Trier has ever made. It is astonishing how after the arduously misanthropic, but stylistically audacious Dogville, von Trier could have made something this atrocious. Both films use a very minimalist style (both were shot on a single stage with very little set pieces), which alone may bore some people to death, but at least Dogville had even a notion of story, some fine acting and thoughtful, if cynical, ideas. Manderlay has none of these; an interesting concept perhaps, but the acting is anemic, the story uninteresting, and Anthony Dod Mantle, who usually is a very good cinematographer, seems to have been continually drunk while shooting the film. Say what you will about von Trier and his originality and audacity as a filmmaker, but this film is an excruciatingly boring botch-up that I will never, ever watch again.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

An interesting, but character challenged politically charged "what if?". Like all of Trier's stuff, this is pure venting but it lacks the satisfaction felt from Dogville; going for narrow-mindedness over actually exploring the premise fairly. Still, it's a fine watch.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

En skarp film med mange budskaber om USA. Bryce Dallas Howard, Danny Glover og Isaach De Bankolé gør det super, og trådn bliver fulgt meget godt fra 'Dogville'. Samtidig har filmen en mere skarp slutning end sin forgænger. Absolut en seværdig og mindeværdig film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/04/23

Full Review

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Lars von Trier

Director

Bryce Dallas Howard

Grace

Isaach de Bankolé

Timothy

Danny Glover

Wilhelm

Willem Dafoe

Grace's Father

Michaël Abiteboul

Thomas

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Dogville

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Critical Consensus: Annapolis and Momma Disappoint, While Nanny Casts an Innocuous Spell

Trailer Bulletin: Manderlay

Toronto Film Fest: “SPL,” “Dave Chapelle’s Block Party,” “Revolver,” and “Manderlay”

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J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

The story holds up well enough to deliver a pointed critique of establishing self-rule at gunpoint...

Jun 28, 2022

Full Review

Scott Tobias

AV Club

Manderlay loses in power what it lacks in novelty, even though it's more relevant than anything the year is likely to bring.

Rated: B-

Nov 27, 2006

Full Review

Ryan Gilbey

Sight & Sound

The audience's familiarity with the stylistic devices of Manderlay should allow the film's more reflective screenplay to shine through.

Sep 28, 2006

Full Review

Mattie Lucas

The Dispatch (Lexington, NC)

Dogville was a masterpiece to which Manderlay is a fascinating footnote.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jun 5, 2019

Full Review

Betsy Sherman

Arts Fuse

Although Manderlay is an interesting film, it is not a very important film.

Aug 9, 2017

Full Review

Hannah Brown

Jerusalem Post

Would like to stay awake, you'll have to choose a strategy. You can concentrate on the film's pretension, anti-American arrogance, incoherence, stilted writing or sheer stupidity.

Mar 2, 2016

Full Review

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Synopsis

In 1933 a young woman, named Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), and her father discover an Alabama plantation whose inhabitants live as if slavery had never been abolished. Feeling a sense of duty to the people behind the heavy gates, she stays to liberate the people and see them through their first harvest. With four of her father's colleagues and a lawyer, she faces the daunting task of resurrecting the place known as Manderlay.

Director: Lars von Trier
Executive Producer: Peter Aalbæk Jensen , Lene Børglum
Screenwriter: Lars von Trier
Production Co: Zentropa Entertainments
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Rerelease Date (Theaters): Jan 27, 2006
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 19, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $74.2K
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital