"Direktøren for det hele (The Boss of It All)" by Lars von Trier

Since his international canonization after Breaking the Waves (1996) and his widely influential “Dogma 95” manifesto, Lars von Trier seems to be perceived less and less as a filmmaker with a specific body of work. In the global media game, his role as a provocateur, his potential for cultural controversy and his delicate relationship with the public appear to take up more space than his actual filmmaking. Consequently, any von Trier film that does not lend itself to scandalization can easily fall under the radar. The Boss of It All (2006) is a case in point: in many European countries (including Austria) it didn’t even receive a theatrical release.

Shot in “Automavision”, a technique which leaves certain aesthetic decisions to chance, The Boss of It All is a small, sharply focused project – in some ways a palate-cleanser that von Trier served up between the lavish banquets of Manderlay and Antichrist. At the same time, the film presents a clear-eyed perspective on one of the core elements in von Trier’s cinema: the insistent and inventive inquiry into social conformity and group behavior, achieved through absurdist role-playing. Direktøren for det hele/The Boss of It All is an examination of the workplace as shaped by the ’built-on-air’ economies of the post-Fordist Age. Setting the film in a mid-level IT company in Copenhagen, von Trier employs biting sarcasm – and the means of theatre – to expose the secrets and lies and the ‘everyday theatricality’ in his characters’ lives.