Editing Manderlay

{{About||the fictional estate|Manderley|the Burmese city|Mandalay}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Manderlay
| image          = Manderlay movie poster.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Lars von Trier]]
| producer       = [[Vibeke Windeløv]]
| writer         = Lars von Trier
| starring       = {{Plainlist|
* [[Bryce Dallas Howard]]
* [[Willem Dafoe]]
* [[Danny Glover]]
* [[Lauren Bacall]]
* [[Jean-Marc Barr]]
* [[Udo Kier]]
}}
| narrator       = [[John Hurt]]
| music          = Joachim Holbek
| cinematography = [[Anthony Dod Mantle]]
| editing        = Molly Marlene Stensgård
| production_companies = {{Plainlist|
* [[Zentropa|Zentropa Entertainments13 ApS]]
* [[Canal+ (French TV channel)|Canal+]]
* [[Sigma Film|SigmaIII Films Ltd.]]
* [[Arte|arte France Cinéma]]
}}
| distributor    = Distributionsselskabet (Denmark)<br />[[Nordisk Film]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Manderlay (2005)|website=[[Danish Film Database]]|access-date=16 November 2021|url= https://www.dfi.dk/en/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/film/manderlay}}</ref> (Denmark; through Nordisk-Constantin-[[20th Century Studios|Fox]]<ref name=lumiere />) <br />[[Sony Pictures Releasing]] (Sweden)<ref name=lumiere>{{cite web|title=Film #20040: Manderlay|work=[[Lumiere (website)|Lumiere]]|access-date=3 April 2021|url=http://lumiere.obs.coe.int/web/film_info/?id=20040}}</ref><br />A-Film Distribution (Netherlands)<ref name="mojo"/><br />[[Les Films du Losange]] (France)<ref name=lumiere/><br />Neue Visionen (Germany)<ref name=lumiere/><br />Metrodome Distribution (United Kingdom)<ref name=lumiere/><br />[[RAI|01 Distribution]] (Italy)<ref name="mojo"/>
| released       = {{Film date|df=y|2005|05|16|[[2005 Cannes Film Festival|Cannes]]|2005|06|03|Denmark}}
| runtime        = 138 minutes<!--Theatrical runtime: 138:39--><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/manderlay-2006-1 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221230310/http://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/manderlay-2006-1 | url-status=dead | archive-date=21 February 2014 | title=''Manderlay'' | work=[[British Board of Film Classification]] | access-date=2013-05-20}}</ref>
| country        = {{Plainlist|
* Denmark
* Sweden
* Netherlands
* France
* Germany
* United Kingdom
* Italy
}}
| language       = English
| budget         = $14.2&nbsp;million<ref name="mojo"/>
| gross          = $675,000<ref name="mojo"/>
}} 
'''''Manderlay''''' is a 2005 [[avant-garde]] [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] written and directed by [[Lars von Trier]], the second and most recent part of von Trier's projected ''[[Lars von Trier#2003–2008: Land of Opportunities trilogy and other works|USA – Land of Opportunities]]'' trilogy. Unlike von Trier's other trilogies, the films' stories are connected and it is a direct sequel to ''[[Dogville]]''. It stars [[Bryce Dallas Howard]], who replaces [[Nicole Kidman]] in the role of Grace Mulligan. The film co-stars [[Willem Dafoe]], replacing [[James Caan (actor)|James Caan]]. [[Lauren Bacall]], [[Željko Ivanek]], [[Jeremy Davies]], and [[Chloë Sevigny]] return portraying different characters from those in ''[[Dogville]]''.
Only [[John Hurt]], [[Udo Kier]], and [[Jean-Marc Barr]] reprise their roles. The film was [[International co-production|internationally co-produced]] with seven different European countries.

The staging is very similar to ''Dogville'', which was shot on a sparsely dressed [[sound stage]] akin to [[black box theater]]. As in the case of ''Dogville'', ''Manderlay''{{'}}s action is confined to a small geographic area, in this case a [[plantations in the American South|plantation]]. The film is dedicated in memory of a French film producer, [[Humbert Balsan]] (1954-2005).

==Plot==
The film is told in eight straight chapters:
# In which we happen upon Manderlay and meet the people there
# "The freed enterprise of Manderlay"
# "The Old Lady's Garden"
# In which Grace means business
# "Shoulder to Shoulder"
# Hard times at Manderlay
# "Harvest"
# In which Grace settles with Manderlay and the film ends

Set in 1933, the film takes up the story of Grace and her father after burning the town of Dogville at the end of the previous film. Grace and her father travel in convoy with a number of gunmen through rural [[Alabama]] where they stop briefly outside a plantation called Manderlay. As the gangsters converse, a black woman emerges from Manderlay's front gates complaining that someone is about to be whipped for stealing a bottle of wine.

Grace enters the plantation and learns that within it, [[slavery]] persists, roughly 70 years after the [[American Civil War]] and the [[Emancipation Proclamation]]. Grace is appalled and insists on staying at the plantation with a small contingent of gunmen and her father's lawyer, Joseph, in order to guarantee the slaves' safe transition to freedom. Shortly after Grace's father and the remaining gangsters depart, Mam, the master of the house, dies, but not before asking Grace to burn a notebook containing "Mam's Law," an exhaustive code of conduct for the entire plantation and all its inhabitants, free and slave. She reads the descriptions of each variety of slave that can be encountered, which include:
* Group 1: Proudy [[Nigger]]
* Group 2: Talkin' Nigger
* Group 3: Weepin' Nigger
* Group 4: Hittin' Nigger
* Group 5: Clownin' Nigger
* Group 6: Losin' Nigger
* Group 7: Pleasin' Nigger (also known as a [[chameleon]], a person of the kind who can transform himself into exactly the type the beholder would like to see)

The principal seven divisions are each populated by a single adult slave at Manderlay, who congregate daily and converse on a "parade ground," with Roman numerals of the numbers 1 through 7 designating where each slave stands. "Mam's Law" contains further provisions against the use of cash by slaves, or the felling of trees on the property for timber.

All of this information disgusts Grace and inspires her to take charge of the plantation in order to punish the slave owners and prepare the slaves for life as free individuals. In order to guarantee that the former slaves will not continue to be exploited, no longer as slaves but instead as [[sharecroppers]], Grace orders Joseph to draw up contracts for all Manderlay's inhabitants, institutionalizing a form of cooperative living in which the white family works as slaves and the blacks collectively own the plantation and its crops. Throughout this process, Grace lectures all those present about the notions of [[Freedom (political)|freedom]] and democracy, using rhetoric entirely in keeping with the ideology of [[racial equality]] which most contemporary Americans had yet to embrace.

However, as the film progresses, Grace fails to embed these principles in Manderlay's community in a form she considers satisfactory. Furthermore, her suggestions for improving the conditions of the community backfire on several occasions, such as using the surrounding trees for timber, which leaves the crops vulnerable to dust storms. After a year of such tribulations, the community harvests its cotton and successfully sells it, marking the high point of Grace's involvement. Subsequently, she un-enthusiastically has sex with one of the ex-slaves who also steals and gambles away all of the cotton profits. Finally admitting her failure, Grace contacts her father and attempts to leave the plantation only to be stopped by the plantation's blacks. At this point it is revealed that "Mam's Law" was not conceived and enforced by Mam or any of the other whites, but instead by Wilhelm, the community's eldest member, as a means of maintaining the status quo after the abolition of slavery, protecting the blacks from a hostile outside world. The people of Manderlay then tell Grace to punish Timothy for what he did by whipping him. Grace then finds a letter from her father, explaining that he came to get her while she was whipping Timothy. He assumed that this was what she meant by claiming that Manderlay had come upon new times and that she had accepted them as slaves. Grace then runs away to another unrevealed place. As in many von Trier films, the [[Idealism|idealistic]] main character becomes frustrated by the reality he or she encounters.

==Cast==
{{castlist|
* [[Bryce Dallas Howard]] as Grace Margaret Mulligan
* [[Willem Dafoe]] as Mr. Mulligan
* [[Danny Glover]] as Wilhelm
* [[Lauren Bacall]] as Mam
* [[Jean-Marc Barr]] as Mr. Robinson
* [[Udo Kier]] as Mr. Kirspe
* [[Isaach de Bankolé]] as Timothy
* [[Michaël Abiteboul]] as Thomas
* Geoffrey Bateman as Bertie
* Virgile Bramly as Edward
* Ruben Brinkman as "Bingo"
* [[Doña Croll]] as Venus
* [[Jeremy Davies (actor)|Jeremy Davies]] as Niels
* [[Llewella Gideon]] as Victoria
* [[Mona Hammond]] as Old Wilma
* [[Ginny Holder]] as Elizabeth
* [[Emmanuel Idowu]] as Jim
* [[Željko Ivanek]] as Dr. Hector
* Teddy Kempner as Joseph
* [[Rik Launspach]] as Stanley Mays
* [[Suzette Llewellyn]] as Flora
* Charles Maquignon as Bruno
* [[Joseph Mydell]] as Mark
* [[Javone Prince]] as Jack
* [[Clive Rowe]] as Sammy
* [[Chloë Sevigny]] as Philomena
* [[Nina Sosanya]] as Rose
* [[John Hurt]] as The Narrator
}}

==Production==
{{More citations needed|date=November 2022}}
[[Nicole Kidman]] and [[James Caan (actor)|James Caan]], who had appeared in earlier chapter of the trilogy, did not return for this film; Kidman was unable to return due to scheduling conflicts, while Caan disapproved of the film's depiction of [[Anti-Americanism|anti-American culture]] and [[slavery]].

Fearful about her sex scene, [[Bryce Dallas Howard]] said she approached it in a hypnotic state. After the first take, she excused herself and went to the bathroom to collect her thoughts, then started to think of it as a sort of comedic scene. "Just in my head. And interestingly enough, Lars kind of felt that. The scene wasn't written funny at all, but there are some really eccentric and absurd moments in that scene that people tend to chuckle at."<ref>{{cite web |title='Prude' Howard fills in for Kidman |work=www.deseret.com |date=22 May 2005 |url=https://www.deseret.com/2005/5/22/19893406/prude-howard-fills-in-for-kidman |access-date=9 February 2022 }}</ref>

=== Donkey killing ===
During production, a [[donkey]] was slaughtered for dramatic purposes resulting in [[John C. Reilly]], the actor originally cast as Dr. Hector, quitting in protest.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brooks |first1=Xan |last2=Tempest |first2=Matthew |title=Reilly drops out over dead donkey |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/apr/29/news.xanbrooks |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=1 September 2023 |date=29 April 2004}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Neil |title=Lars Von Trier's controversial career |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-13455855 |website=[[BBC News]] |access-date=1 September 2023 |date=19 May 2011}}</ref> The scene was cut from the film before it was released.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cruelty to Animals in the Entertainment Business : Cruel Camera – Cruelty on Film : the fifth estate : CBC News |work=CBC News |url=http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/cruelcamera/cruelty.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325193835/http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/cruelcamera/cruelty.html |archive-date=25 March 2010 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

==Reception==

===Critical reception===
''Manderlay'' received mixed reviews from critics. {{As of|2022|03}}, the film holds a 50% approval rating on review aggregation site [[Rotten Tomatoes]], based on 103 reviews with an average rating of 5.70/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''Manderlay'' may work better as a political statement than as a film, making its points at the expense of telling a compelling story."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/manderlay|title=Manderlay (2006)|access-date=22 June 2020|via=www.rottentomatoes.com}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]], the film has a [[weighted average]] score of 46 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{Citation |title=Manderlay Reviews |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/manderlay |publisher=[[Metacritic]] |access-date=2022-03-20}}</ref>

Anthony Lane of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' said, "Von Trier is not so much a filmmaker as a misanthropic mesmerist, who uses movies to bend the viewer to his humorless will,"<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/02/06/job-discrimination|title=Job Discrimination|first=Anthony|last=Lane|magazine=The New Yorker |date=29 January 2006|via=www.newyorker.com}}</ref> while Josh Kun of the ''Los Angeles Times'' added, "Trier gets lost in his own rhetoric."<ref>{{cite news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206032402/http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-manderlay3feb03%2C0%2C7527649.story |url=http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-manderlay3feb03,0,7527649.story? |archive-date=6 February 2006 |date=3 February 2006 |first=Josh |last=Kun |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |title=Manderlay |access-date=24 April 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

Conversely, ''[[The Guardian]]'' film critic [[Peter Bradshaw]] and [[Roger Ebert]] both gave the film mildly positive reviews. While noting, "Many moviegoers are likely to like the film less than the discussion it drags them into," Ebert opined, "The crucial difference between ''Manderlay'' and the almost unbearable ''Dogville'' is not that [von Trier's] politics have changed, but that his sense of mercy for the audience has been awakened."<ref>[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/REVIEWS/602160306/1023 ''Manderlay'' – Roger Ebert]</ref> Peter Bradshaw claimed that ''Manderlay'' "is a wind-up, but an effective wind-up," and wrote of von Trier's Land of Opportunities trilogy, "My guess is you can throw away the first and third movies and keep this one."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2006/mar/03/2 | title=Manderlay | newspaper=The Guardian | first=Peter | last=Bradshaw | date=3 March 2006 | access-date=24 April 2016 }}</ref>

===Box office===
The film took a total of $674,918 from 12 countries.<ref name="mojo">{{cite web | url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=manderlay.htm | title=Manderlay (2006) | publisher=Box Office Mojo | access-date=24 April 2016 }}</ref>

===Accolades===
''Manderlay'' was entered into the [[2005 Cannes Film Festival]].<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/4271486/year/2005.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Manderlay |access-date=2009-12-06|work=festival-cannes.com}}</ref>

==Soundtrack==
The ''Manderlay'' soundtrack, including songs from the film ''Dogville'', was arranged by composer Joachim Holbek, and released through Milan Records.
# "Dogville Overture" – ([[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]] Concert in G Major)
# "Thoughts of Tom" – ([[Handel]] Concerto Grosso in D Major)
# "Happy at Work" – (Oboe Concerto Albinoni Concerto For Oboe in D Minor)
# "Dogville Theme" – (Vivaldi Concert in G Major)
# "The Gifts" – (Flute And Cembalo Vivaldi Concerto For Flute in D Minor)
# "Happy Times in Dogville" – ([[Albinoni]] Concerto For Oboe in D Minor)
# "Fast Motion" – (Vivaldi Concert in G Major)
# "The Fog" – (Vivaldi "Madrigalesco" RV 139)
# "Grace Gets Angry" – (Vivaldi "Nisi Dominus" RV 608)
# "Change of Time" – ([[Giovanni Battista Pergolesi|Pergolesi]] "Stabat Mater")
# "Manderlay Theme" – (Vivaldi Concerto For Basson in a Minor)
# "Mam's Death" – (Vivaldi Concert in G Minor)
# "The Child" – (Vivaldi "Al Santo Sepolcro" and Pergolesi "Quando Corpus Morietur")
# "The Swallows Arrive" – (Handel Aria)
# "Young Americans" – [[David Bowie]]

==See also==
*[[List of films featuring slavery]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0342735|Manderlay}}
* {{mojo title|manderlay|Manderlay}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|manderlay|Manderlay}}
* {{Metacritic film|title=Manderlay}}

{{Lars von Trier}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manderlay}}
[[Category:2005 films]]
[[Category:2005 drama films]]
[[Category:2005 independent films]]
[[Category:Danish drama films]]
[[Category:Swedish drama films]]
[[Category:Dutch drama films]]
[[Category:French drama films]]
[[Category:German drama films]]
[[Category:British drama films]]
[[Category:Italian drama films]]
[[Category:English-language Danish films]]
[[Category:English-language Dutch films]]
[[Category:English-language French films]]
[[Category:English-language German films]]
[[Category:English-language Italian films]]
[[Category:English-language Swedish films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Lars von Trier]]
[[Category:Danish avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:Danish independent films]]
[[Category:Fictional populated places]]
[[Category:Animal cruelty incidents in film]]
[[Category:Casting controversies in film]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in film]]
[[Category:Films about race and ethnicity]]
[[Category:Films about American slavery]]
[[Category:Films set in 1933]]
[[Category:Films set in Alabama]]
[[Category:Films set on farms]]
[[Category:Films shot in Denmark]]
[[Category:Films shot in Sweden]]
[[Category:Foreign films set in the United States]]
[[Category:2000s avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:French avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:French independent films]]
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[[Category:German independent films]]
[[Category:British avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:British independent films]]
[[Category:Swedish avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:Swedish independent films]]
[[Category:2000s English-language films]]
[[Category:2000s British films]]
[[Category:2000s French films]]
[[Category:2000s German films]]
[[Category:2000s Swedish films]]
[[Category:English-language drama films]]
[[Category:English-language historical drama films]]
[[Category:Les Films du Losange films]]
[[Category:English-language independent films]]