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Rating: Denmark. Ravn, owner of a software company, decides to sell it to an Icelandic buyer, named Finnur, but there's a problem: the buyer insists that the company's president be present during the negotiations. Ravn had always pretended to be an employee working for an American magnate to avoid all the responsibilities of being the decision-maker. He is thus forced to hire Kristoffer, an unemployed actor obsessed with the playwright Gambini, to play the part of the company's big boss for the necessary time to conclude the sale. Poor Kristoffer finds himself having to play a difficult and contradictory role, built on ten years of lies by Ravn, and he has to work closely with the company's six creative minds, each of whom is a splendid caricature of the corporate world.
As the days pass, Kristoffer discovers how petty Ravn really is, and how much abuse the employees have had to endure over the years, under the excuse that "the big boss was in America." Speaking with Finnur's lawyer (who, in classic comedy fashion, is none other than Kristoffer's ex-wife), the actor learns that Ravn intends to fire all the employees with the sale, without giving them anything for their most important product's rights. He decides to change Ravn's mind by hitting him at his only weak spot: the need to always feel loved and well-liked by everyone.
After various attempts, at the time of signing the sales agreement, Kristoffer finally manages to break Ravn down and get him to confess everything in front of Finnur and the employees. Everything seems to end for the best, with Ravn being forgiven by the employees and deciding to call off the sale. But from a speech by Finnur, Kristoffer (who still had the power of attorney to conclude the deal) realizes that the Icelander is also a fan of Gambini and, driven by the excitement of having found another who shares his greatest passion, decides to sign the sale.
After 'Dogville' and 'Manderlay', Lars Von Trier momentarily (though it's unclear how momentarily) sets aside his trilogy on the U.S.A. and returns to Europe with this satire of the workplace dressed as a fresh and elegant comedy, a light and entertaining film that carries the unmistakable signature of the ingenious Danish director.
The novelty of this film is the automavision experiment: the entire film was shot using fixed cameras controlled by a computer, which randomly decided when to execute zooms, panoramas, or close-ups. The result of using this technique is a film in which the shots are often not well-centered, and the close-ups are cut. A thing that, according to contemporary cinema's aesthetic standards, is at least questionable, but the only culprit is the computer. After "Dogma 95," this appears to be a new breaking point with the classical way of directing a film.
Some tidbits:
- The director plays the role of the narrator in this film, and his image appears in the initial sequence reflected in a window.
- The often-mentioned Gambini actually doesn't exist; it is only an allegorical allusion to the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.
- In Denmark, the film's release was tied to a sort of game called "Lookeys": it involves seven out-of-place elements inserted within the film, which can be explained by using a mysterious common key. Whoever was the first to discover it was promised a cash prize and the possibility of appearing in Lars Von Trier's next film. Unfortunately, this competition is open only to the Danish public.
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