2005 film by Marcelo Piñeyro
The Method () is a 2005 thriller film directed by Marcelo Piñeyro and based on the 2003 play "El mètode Grönholm" by Jordi Galceran.
It stars Eduardo Noriega, Najwa Nimri, Eduard Fernández, Pablo Echarri, Ernesto Alterio, Natalia Verbeke, Adriana Ozores and Carmelo Gómez, as the only eight actors in the film.
Synopsis.
After an introduction showing the AZCA area of Madrid during a meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank with accompanying anti-globalization protests, the entire film happens within a corporate building (outdoor scenes shot by Torre Europa), mostly in a closed conference room.
The story tells of seven people that have been selected among several applicants for one final round to determine who will get an enviable, executive position for a mysterious corporation, Dekia. The seven applicants are submitted to a series of psychological tests - known as the "Grönholm Method" - that start eliminating the applicants one by one. It is warned at the beginning that one of the seven people is an employee of the corporation posing as an applicant to evaluate the others. As the applicants are discarded, the race for the position becomes more tense and sinister.
The tests reveal the weakness of each of the characters and their attitudes to company work. In the end the "mole" will be revealed and only one of them will get the desired position.
Awards.
The film was nominated to five Goya Awards (Best Lead Actor (Fernández), Best New Actor (Echarri), Best Editing (Aledo), Best Screenplay (Gil and Piñeyro) and Best Supporting Actor (Gómez), winning in the last two categories. It also won in the Flanders International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Film in the Mar del Plata Film Festival. It also won the main award (The Audience Award) at Vilnius International Film Festival.
Footnotes.
Similarities have been noted between this film and the 2009 film "Exam".