The Good Boss (El buen patrón)

In Fernando León de Aranoa’s biting black comedy The Good Boss, Javier Bardem gives one of the greatest performances of his career as Blanco, the owner of Básculas Blanco, a family business producing industrial scales in a provincial Spanish town.

Blanco is obsessed with a conservative view of perfection and balance, but beyond the impeccable façade lies an entirely different story. When Básculas Blanco is nominated for a regional Business Excellence award and awaits an imminent inspection visit from the decision-making committee, Blanco works furiously behind the scenes to shore up errant managers and deal with disgruntled ex-employees protesting outside the factory gates. All the while, the married, paternal Blanco is distracted by an impossibly beautiful young marketing intern who seems strangely familiar…

Crossing every imaginable line in the process and setting off an explosive and unexpected sequence of events with unimaginable repercussions, Javier Bardem as Blanco is a tour-de-force send-up of modern Spanish mores.

Nominated for a record 20 Goya Awards (Spanish Academy Awards) and winner of six, including:

• Best Picture

• Best Actor

• Best Director