The Good Boss

At first glance, Julio Blanco (Javier Bardem) seems like the perfect boss with a spotless record: competent, charismatic, and very caring. As the owner of a family-run industrial scale company, he is driven by a belief in balance and justice. And he is convinced that he makes his decisions solely for the good of the company and his compliant employees. But above all, Julio is most convinced of himself. Over the years, this attitude has brought the benevolent patriarch wealth, respect, and many awards. Only one thing is still missing: the government’s award for excellence in corporate leadership—this year, he’s finally going to win it! But the glamorous facade begins to crumble when the CEO has to deal with a fired employee, a depressed production manager, and an intern who’s fallen in love with him… and in the process, he acts with increasing harshness, authoritarianism, and immorality. At the 36th Goya Awards (2022), Fernando León de Aranoa’s black comedy was nominated in twenty categories and won awards in six. This comes as little surprise, as “The Perfect Boss” is “a satirical black comedy with a dazzling cast that denounces hypocrisy and authoritarian capitalism without offering much hope for a fundamental change in the system. With its efficiently layered structure, the film gradually reveals the main character’s unscrupulous nature. - “Worth seeing” (Lexikon des Internationalen Films)