Dogville v Manderlay
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soo_z_g — 14 years ago(March 12, 2012 08:59 AM)
I totally agree with you and others on this thread. While Manderlay was uncomfortable in a good way, raised issues which require thought and discussion, and, overall, worked for me, I found Dogville a much more powerful film. I was much less emotionally engaged by Manderlay and had much less sympathy for Grace, I think in part because of the content of the films but also due to Kidman's amazing performance in Dogville. Dogville is mentioned in Manderlay, so it certainly struck me as terribly odd that a character who has gone through what Grace went through in Dogville hadn't gained more awareness. In retrospect, I have to agree with others in this thread that Von Trier intentionally portrayed Grace as obtuse and having learned nothing from her past experience.
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collinfrey26 — 12 years ago(April 01, 2014 09:05 AM)
I felt that Manderlay was more entertaining then Dogville and I didn't notice the lack of set as much. However, after watching Dogville, I felt as if I read a novel and truly connected to the characters; I did not have these feelings with Manderlay. I feel like I will end up watching Manderlay more often but Dogville will always be the entry that left the most profound effect on me.
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Melton1 — 4 months ago(November 25, 2025 12:04 AM)
Dogville is a 10/10 masterpiece.
Manderlay is a very strong 8.5/10 sequel.
To be honest I wonder if it was always planned as a sequel, because Grace feels like a totally different character. In Dogville she was heavenly and pure but also carried an air of potential danger - remember when Moses the dog first meets her, he ‘snarled at… a force to be taken seriously‘. She is beautiful, graceful, humble and forgiving, but subtly powerful.
Of course, she gets taken advantage of in the most horrific ways and by the end transforms into an angel of death, but she never seemed
naive
.
Bryce Dallas Howard’s Grace feels like the bratty younger sister of Nicole Kidman’s original. This new one seems naive, young, obnoxious, preachy and frankly… an idiot. It feels true to the script and is obviously what Von Trier wanted, Howard did a great job, but I wonder if the original idea was retooled into a Dogville ‘sequel’?
Grace seems to have morphed from a Christ figure into a bleating Liberal activist
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