The boss of a Danish IT company – having years earlier invented a fake, US-based president to take the pressure off his decision making, allowing him to continue to be the good guy, even when firing people – hires an out-of-work actor to pose as said fallacious director in order to sell his business to an irascible, Dane-hating Icelander, and in the process right royally shaft all of his loyal employees. However, he doesn’t count on the thespian’s uncharacteristic conscience, which soon begins to get in the way of his underhanded scheme. Filmed using Automavision, a process that leaves the framing of each scene to be selected at random by a computer, von Trier’s oft hilarious comedy is certainly different. However, the fact that he still allows himself the power to edit it as he would wish suggests that this wasn’t quite the exercise in capricious film-making that he made it out to be. Not that it really matters, as it’s still a cracking little allegorical farce, which examines, amongst other things, the artistic process, office politics, and emotional weakness.
