The Boss of It All

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’.