But things are a little off here and the audience, along with Veronica, begin to see the cracks in this so-called progressive society where she is subjected to dehumanizing microaggressions and bigger slights over the course of a day. There’s the concierge at the hotel who takes a call instead of helping her. There’s the host at the restaurant who seats her and her friends by the kitchen when other tables are open. And there’s the woman (Jena Malone) whose compliments of Veronica ooze with degrading condescension.

Malone is in the “past” too, perusing the slaves for purchase. And the film comes to reveal (as the trailer does in just a few minutes) that the plantation is neither the past nor a dream, but a very real place where Black people are kidnapped and taken so that white supremacists can “play” at living in the antebellum South, kind of like Westworld but without the pretense of robots.

The machinations of the plot are not subtle and the film seems more interested in showcasing torture rather than illuminating the racism that lives on today.

Monae said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that most films about racism are white savior films — even some that she’s been part of. It is a failing of cinema and storytelling when an experience is only shown through a certain lens that helps absolve and even make the oppressors feel good. “Antebellum” is supposed to be a rebuke to that. But it just doesn’t come close to delivering on all its big ideas, despite Monae’s powerful performance. The movie is strongest in the modern setting and full of cliches on the plantation.