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The Boss of It All (2006)

Director: Lars von Trier

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2 reviews

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From Time Out London

Von Trier appears as a reflection in a window at the start of his first Danish-language film since ‘The Idiots’ to announce that this is a comedy and ‘not worth a moment’s reflection’. That’s not true, of course, but those familiar with the slow-moving mechanics and heavy themes of ‘Dogville’ and ‘Manderlay’ may well appreciate the lighter tone.

Our theatre is a dull, modern office: Ravn (Peter Gantzler) wants to sell his IT business to Finnur (Fridri, Thor Fridriksson), a gruff Icelander, but to complete the sale he has to hire an actor, Kristoffer (Jens Albinus) to pretend to be the non-existent über-boss for whom he has been shouldering responsibility for years.

The film works well as a comedy of misidentity and an allegory of the relationship between directors and actors. The voice of the writer-director pops up three more times to confirm his role as Brechtian puppetmaster, obsessed as ever with rules and game-playing. The use of a new automatic process to select light and sound levels roots the film in the experimental as it jolts amusingly between light and dark, quiet and loud. A comedy? Maybe, but only if you laughed at ‘The Idiots’.

Author: Dave Calhoun 2006-10-19 11:35:00

Time Out London Issue 1958 Feb 27 – March 4

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User reviews of this film

Technoguy said...

Posted on Oct 27 2008 01:12 This film seems to want to follow in the footsteps of the office.I found it amusing at times especially with the role Kristoffer had assumed without reading the small-
print:that he would be seen as making the unpopular
decision in the sale of the IT firm.It didn't seem necessary for him to have sex with one of the office staff
who wants to prove he's not gay!I found it at times
awkward when it uses IT jargon and stiff in dialogue
which made it more clunky.Why did it have to go into
an academic discussion of Ibsen and Strindberg? It
obviously played on the differences between the Danes
and the Icelandic peoples(like ours between English and Irish).I think it thought it was too clever by half.It
was not The Office.Lars stick to serious stuff in future>

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Holly Barnes said...

Posted on Apr 18 2008 14:29 Funny, intelligent and challenging. More comedies please Lars!

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