Manderlay

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Movie
German title Manderlay
Original title Manderlay
Country of production Denmark , Sweden , Netherlands , France , Germany
original language English
Publishing year 2005
length 139 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Lars from Trier
script Lars from Trier
production Vibeke Windeløv
music Joachim Holbek
camera Anthony Dod Mantle
cut Bodil Kjærhauge
Molly Marlene Stensgård
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
Dogville

Manderlay is a feature film by the Danish director Lars von Trier from 2005 . The drama is the second part of von Trier's America trilogy , which began with Dogville (2003) and will end with the film Wasington (the last part was originally planned for 2009, but has not yet been completed). The film was produced by several film studios , including Zentropa Entertainment , Film i Väst and Memfis Film & Television , and opened in German cinemas on November 10, 2005.

action

The USA , in 1933 : Grace Margaret Mulligan and her father leave the burned-down village of Dogville behind and make their way home to Denver . During her absence, competing gangsters have taken over the business. Grace's father and his henchmen have therefore spent the entire winter looking for a new area in which the group could settle. By chance, her car stops in the US state of Alabama in front of a large locked iron gate, behind which the "Manderlay" property is located.

When the group is about to leave after a short break, a young black woman runs towards the car and asks for help. Against her father's instructions, Grace leaves the car and follows the young woman through the gate of Manderlay. Here Grace meets a group of people who live as if slavery had not been abolished seventy years ago - with white masters and black slaves who have to work in the cotton fields of the plantation . Grace decides to intervene.

For Grace there is an incredible picture. A young black man, Timothy, has been tied between two fence posts and is being flogged by a white guard. Grace instructs him to stop, only to be confronted a short time later with the owner of the plantation, an old lady known as Mam , who points a gun at Grace. However, her father's henchmen save her from this dangerous situation. As it turns out a short time later, Mam is very weak and about to die. In her bedroom, she asks Grace to destroy an old book that she hides under her mattress to protect Manderlay's residents. Grace refuses to comply with this request. Mam dies and Grace finds out that the plantation was run according to this handwritten book, “Mam's Law”, which contains a code of conduct and a description of the slaves on Manderlay.

Grace soon found it was her duty to redress the injustice done to the slaves by the whites. “We brought them here, abused them, made them what they are,” she replies to her father and decides to stay in Manderlay until the now former slaves have their first harvest of their own. Her father doesn't believe in her idea and decides to leave Manderlay without her. But he leaves five of his henchmen on site to support her. She is now fully committed to the task of winning the trust of blacks. But instead of strength and commitment, she proceeds with patience and restraint in order to gradually bring the residents of Manderlay closer to the idea of ​​democracy and self-government.

Mam's heirs are unhappy with the new situation as they have been reset to the status of their former slaves for a year. Only then can they stay or leave as they please. The newfound freedom is unfamiliar to blacks. Grace struggles to convince her of the need to cultivate the fields and repair the accommodation. Grace suggests cutting down the trees in the "old lady's garden" to get timber. But since the activities drag on, Grace forces the blacks with the help of the gangsters to take classes in democracy, with even voting on the time.

Only Timothy doesn't seem to like the new situation very much and can't share Grace's enthusiasm. Nevertheless, Grace is attracted to him, even has erotic fantasies. It is said that Timothy is of noble descent; he belongs to the proud tribe of the Munsi.

But nature doesn't mean it well with Manderlay - the cotton plants are spilled by a sandstorm as the protective tall trees in the "old lady's garden" have been cut down. The sand also got into the storerooms and made almost all supplies unusable. The residents of the plantation are threatened with famine. The gangsters remaining with Grace are also inactive and dissatisfied. The situation on Manderlay is noticeably deteriorating and its residents have to feed on earth in order not to starve to death.

The situation on the plantation comes to a head when the sick Claire, the daughter of Jack and Rose, two former slaves, is found dead in her bed. Although Claire received the only meat rations, it appears that she died of malnutrition. However, the voiceover makes it clear that nobody sees Claire eating and that everyone is just telling themselves that the girl will have to eat at night and will soon recover. It turns out that old Wilma, exhausted from hunger herself, succumbed to the temptation to steal rations that Claire had not touched during the night. The community must - according to the rules introduced by Grace - vote on how Wilma should be punished. Not only because they want to atone for Claire's death, but also because they see themselves as victims who have been deprived of the extra food ration, the majority decide at Jack's request, but against Grace's conviction, that Wilma should die. Grace prevents Claire's father from executing the sentence himself, because the execution would then be an act of revenge, and goes to the waiting Wilma. She anxiously wants to know from her how the others have decided, and is reassured by Grace that Jack could not prevail. She explains to Wilma a fair but fictitious verdict, just as she would like to have liked, but was unable to enforce: Since Wilma only ate the food after it had not been touched by the sick Claire, she is not to blame for the death of the Girl. After Wilma fell asleep, Grace shoots her and then bursts into tears.

Motivated by Timothy, the residents of Manderlay begin to expose the cotton plants again. A harvest might still be possible. She is the only hope. In fact, they manage to bring in the harvest and sell it at a good price. This experience even leads to the integration of the former white men into the group. The gangsters are no longer needed and leave Manderlay.

Grace spends the night with Timothy after the big party. The voiceover sarcastically explains that Grace, who previously indulged in clichéd masturbation fantasies of erotic encounters with the virile black men of the farm, describes sex with Timothy as "bizarre" for herself, although she obviously has no ambitions for the viewer and emotions are used and abused by Timothy. The bizarre impression is underlined by the fact that Grace, counteracting the clear images of the rape, breaks out of initially motionless shock into lustful screaming and moaning and after the act has been completed, apparently satisfied and animated, lies next to a disinterested Timothy - maybe she just believes to be able to deceive them.

The next day, Grace finds the property in chaos. The harvest money has disappeared. The alleged perpetrator, a roommate, was killed and Elizabeth is also dead. It soon turns out that Timothy gambled away the money and that he does not belong to the proud tribe of the Munsi. Obviously Grace only saw in him what she wanted to see. She didn't read Mam's law carefully, completely overlooked a warning about Timothy's character.

Upon closer study, Grace realizes that Mam's law was primarily there to maintain the status quo after the official end of slavery. The psychological profile descriptions of the slaves and the very precise instructions made it possible for them to continue, which was not all negative. He ensured the slaves a familiar way of life in a country that was still hostile to blacks. Freedom can also be a burden. She is surprised to find out that Wilhelm wrote Mams law and that partly with the knowledge of the other blacks.

Under the influence of events, the blacks decide to return to the old conditions. Grace is supposed to be her new mum; she disagrees, but is forced to do so.

Grace has a piece of fence removed and Timothy tied to it to whip him for wasting the money. In the meantime, she intends to flee through the gap in the fence and meet her father at the gate, who has announced his arrival for this time, but only wants to wait a quarter of an hour for her decision whether she will come with him. However, Timothy holds up to Grace her own words from the beginning that the African Americans and their situation are the product of the whites alone. This leads Grace, beside herself in anger, to take the whip and beat Timothy. In front of the gate she later finds a message from her father that she missed by minutes; because the time chosen by the majority of Manderlay does not match the time from outside. He observed the flogging and was satisfied that his daughter had the property so well under control. He just wondered why she had written to him that a "new era" had dawned in Manderlay.

In the end, Grace escapes from Manderlay and the state of Alabama. The film ends with sarcastic remarks from the narrator about America's open attitude towards blacks. The credits include original photos from the history of racism in the United States , including members of the Ku Klux Klan , demonstrations and police violence against blacks and Martin Luther King , as well as numerous other photos that include: a. show African-American victims of lynching and reproduce the life situations of blacks in the USA.

History of origin and interpretation

Nicole Kidman , who portrayed the recurring lead character of Grace Margaret Mulligan in Dogville , is replaced in Manderlay by the young American actress Bryce Dallas Howard . The Australian was unable to participate due to scheduling conflicts it on the second part of America trilogy by Lars von Trier; she is expected to take over the part of Grace in the third part of Wasington again. The role of Grace's father has also been re-cast. While James Caan slipped into the role of the mysterious gang boss in the first part , Willem Dafoe took over the role in Manderlay . Lauren Bacall , Željko Ivanek , Chloë Sevigny , Udo Kier , Jeremy Davies and Jean-Marc Barr can also be seen in other supporting roles already played roles in the first part. British actor John Hurt once again lends his voice to the narrator .

Like Dogville , Manderlay is based on an original script by the director. While at Dogville he was drawing his ideas from Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera , while working on the script for Manderlay, he again Americanized a foreign material without having traveled to the USA himself. The name “Manderlay” for a manorial country house is borrowed in slightly varied spelling from the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier , filmed by Alfred Hitchcock ; the scene at the locked gate of the estate alludes to the closing sequence of the Hitchcock classic. The novel Geschichte der O , published by the French writer Pauline Réage in 1954 under a pseudonym, also served as a source of inspiration . The sadomasochistic novel is a female submission fantasy about a Parisian fashion photographer who voluntarily and with great passion goes to a place where she is sexually dominated and subjugated and from which she draws her sexual satisfaction. Von Trier was also influenced in his work by a true incident that took place in 1838 on the Caribbean island of Barbados . Black slaves, declared free by law, asked their former masters to put them back into his service. When he refused, he and his family were killed. The former slaves moved back to their old quarters and did their work as if nothing had happened.

As in the first part, Manderlay plays in a minimalist theater setting . Except for the majestic mansion, only a few props were used in the set design. Houses or streets were sketched with chalk drawings on the ground.

Lars von Trier explained: “I am not a representative of political correctness and do not want to be, but set a counterpoint against idealism that can lead even people with the best of intentions astray. In Manderlay , black and white characters are stupid and unable to really change the situation or even to understand it. There are no infallible heroes with me, only individuals who cannot get out of their skin. ”He did not want to establish a direct connection to current political events.

Was shot Manderlay, as already von Trier's previous works Dancer in the Dark and Dogville , in the Swedish town of Trollhattan . Filming began on March 1, 2004, and production costs were reported at 11.8 million euros (14.2 million US dollars).

Reviews

  • “In contrast to Dogville, what is shown leaves you astonishingly cold, the emotional extreme moments for which von Trier is notorious are largely absent despite an almost rape. This is not least due to Howard, who plays solidly but is simply not a Kidman. Lars von Trier surprises us once more - with his first boring film. " (Basellandschaftliche Zeitung)
  • “Most exhausting [...] is Lars von Trier's know-it-all, teacher-like attitude, which constantly shines through in history. David Bowie's closing music with his song 'Young Americans', which can also be heard in the credits in Dogville, seems like a release after about 130 minutes . " (Arte)

Remarks

  • The American actor John C. Reilly had originally played the role of Dr. Hector signed, but was replaced by the Slovenian Željko Ivanek during production . A donkey was killed during filming and the US magazine Entertainment Weekly reported that this was the reason for Reilly's departure from the project; the actor never publicly commented on the reasons. The executive producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen told Swedish media, "people should not be bothered by it - instead, they should at the situation in the Third World . Think" While shooting the Swedish law was not injured, are killed by the animals in film productions if a veterinarian carries out the killing. Director Lars von Trier later took the scene from the film to forestall protests by animal welfare organizations. The director said he didn't want to divert attention from the content of the film.
  • Of the twelve slaves portrayed in the film, nine were occupied by British actors, as African-American actors had stayed away from the project due to the explosive plot.
  • Danny Glover initially turned down the role of Wilhelm.
  • When Vibeke Wendeløv traveled to the USA to cast Manderlay , she got the tip that Danny Glover might be interested in working with Lars von Trier. She immediately flew to Salt Lake City to meet Glover at a hotel. After a long talk about the project and watching the film Dogville on DVD, he agreed to play a role in Manderlay .
  • In the German translation of the film, the narrator role was played by actor Peter Fricke , who had already spoken to him in Dogville .

Awards

Manderlay celebrated its premiere, like Von Trier's previous works Breaking the Waves (1996), Dancer in the Dark (2000) and Dogville (2003), on May 16, 2005 at the Cannes International Film Festival . The film ran in competition, but was subject to the drama The child of the Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne . At the end of October, the film won the special award at the Valladolid International Film Festival together with Michael Haneke's thriller Caché .

nominated for the Palme d'Or for best film
Special Price

Web links

proof

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Manderlay . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , October 2005 (PDF; test number: 103 964 K).
  2. ↑ Interview with BR-Online, October 19, 2005 ( Memento from May 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Film review at kultura-extra.de, November 3, 2005