Lars Von Trier films go down like bad medicine. Either you take his bitter pills or you avoid his output altogether and chose something more palatable. Manderlay is the second leg of his trilogy of films dealing with contemporary America, following on from Dogville in 2003.

As in the first picture, the style is of a filmed play with a self-consciously artificial, sketched out area, housed on an enormous stage. Buildings and spaces within the mise-en-scene are marked out with chalk lines and notes describing their function.

Manderlay continues the story of Grace, (played by Bryce Dallas Howard taking over the role from Nicole Kidman) who - after being abused in Dogville - is brought to a new 'township' by her gangster father (Dafoe).

Here she finds the Black American inhabitants of Manderlay living as slaves, even though it is many years after abolition. Being a curious and human soul, she decides to free the inhabitants and install herself at the centre of the village, just as the Southern Belle and mistress of Manderlay, played by Lauren Bacall, passes away.

The set-up is not without intrigue, as Grace discovers the attitudes of the villagers ingrained from the old regime. As she deals with the individual characters, including a dignified Danny Glover, she finds deep problems in their society, even in freedom. Some of the themes recall the literature of Toni Morrison and others: dealing with the aftermath of slavery on the self-image of its victims.

However, as a piece of cinema this is a blunt, dull instrument. Situations that have been articulated better in other films or plays are given heavy-handed treatment here. Such as Grace not being able to tell two Black characters apart, and the sledge-hammer credits montage, which helpfully reminds us that this film is about US history.

Bryce Dallas Howard is fine in the lead role, jumping bravely into a part that perhaps should have been played by an older actress.

To be fair to Lars Von Trier, who compromises for no one, there is skill and interest in the staging of individual scenes. He is a strong dramatist. But Dogville had better delineated characters, and a tighter plot.

The overall effect watching Manderlay is like being hit over the head for 139 minutes.