Direktøren for det hele (2006)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Lars von Trier

Writer:

Lars von Trier (writer)

Release Date:

8 December 2006 (Denmark)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

An IT company hires an actor to serve as the company's president in order to help the business get sold to a cranky Icelander.

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Firm | Boss | Business | Negotiation

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Jens Albinus	...	Direktøren for det hele / Kristoffer / Svend E
Peter Gantzler	...	Ravn
Friðrik Þór Friðriksson	...	Finnur (as Fridrik Thor Fridriksson)
Benedikt Erlingsson	...	Tolk
Iben Hjejle	...	Lise
Henrik Prip	...	Nalle
Mia Lyhne	...	Heidi A.
Casper Christensen	...	Gorm
Louise Mieritz	...	Mette
Jean-Marc Barr	...	Spencer
Sofie Gråbøl	...	Kisser
Anders Hove	...	Jokumsen

Also Known As:

The Boss of It All (Germany) (International: English title)
Direktören för det hele (Sweden)
Il grande capo (Italy)
Le direktør (France)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

Denmark | Sweden | Iceland | Italy | France | Norway | Finland | Germany

Language:

Danish | Icelandic | English | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:13 | Netherlands:6 | Singapore:M18 | Italy:T (original rating) | Italy:VM14 (re-rating) | Brazil:16 | South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | Norway:10 (TV rating) | USA:Not Rated

Company:

Zentropa Productions

Trivia:

This movie is shot with camera technique called Automavision, an innovation in which the camera angles and movements are selected by a computer. The media notes explain technique, "a principle for shooting film developed with the intention of limiting human influence by inviting chance in from the cold". There are odd framings and jump cuts within scenes making everything seem a bit unsettled.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Udlændingene for det hele (2007) (V)

Von Trier does Comedy, Nails It

Even when trying to make a frivolous film, Lars Von Trier still makes a minor classic, swimming in themes of pretension and acting, wanting to be liked, the hierarchies of power, exploitation, and cinematic comedy itself. A man who owns a company, w...(read more)ants to sell up, but in is a bind, because he created an imaginary president to take the blame for all stern management decisions, and now his buyer will only speak with the president. He hires an incredibly pretentious actor to do the one time gig, but things go wrong when he accidentally introduces himself to the employees, and has to spend a week riding out the role, till the deal is complete.

There's narration in the opening of the movie about this being a an attempt to make a non-political comedy(it fails), that pokes fun at "artsy -fartsy culture"(success)" and that alone was enough to make me want to stop. But this is the trick of all films by this guy, their grueling at times, but also strangely magnetic, and the end is always, always worth the wait, and there's no difference h ere.

The "Automotovision" is a bit distracting at first, but I forgot it was there for the most part, all of the actors, two from another Trier film "The Idiots", and Iben Hjejle (of High Fidelity), give great performances. Though Trier makes plenty of use of location changes, at ironic times, the cinema, the Mary go round, etc.

Iben Hjejle at one point says "life's like a dogma film, it's hard to hear the words sometimes but there still there", and that's an example of Trier's self mockery as much, as a good rule for viewing the movie in general, don't mind the camera, keep an eye of the characters. Enormously entertaining, and maybe brilliant.