notjustaboutsex

The Corner Office is as far from the television show The Office as you can get. Jon Haam, (Orson) sporting an Oliver Reed moustache, climbs the steps to the fortress which will be his new work place, an industrial edifice, cold and foreboding. Orson is excited about his new possibility of employment, talking to himself the whole time about how he might appear to others while raking up his own opinion of them.

This Kafkaesque film says plenty about conformity, rivalry and group think. As soon as someone challenges the status quo by asking questions, they are considered an enemy of the state…the state of mind that ‘s required to get up everyday and do thankless, repetitive work for an unknown employer. Even the dream of achievement plays second fiddle to not making waves. The light flickers in the coffee room and no one dares to fix it or complain. But they do complain about one thing…Orson.

Apparently, Orson has discovered the treasured Corner Office, a space usually coveted by the CEO. It’s a completely intact, refined and unused space where he feels comfortable and can work better. It’s where he belongs really, if only the human resource people will notice.

They notice Orson alright…that he had ignored the rule of slipping his shoes into a shoe covering machine so as not to scoff the floor. He wants to do better, so like the rest, steps onto the machine every morning and pads to his shared desk. But his coworkers are upset about something bigger…Orson’s relationship with his corner office. Apparently, they don’t know about such a refuge in the building and complain about him lingering by a blank wall for ages. It unnerves them.

Orson defies reprimands from his boss, who tries hard to encourage his new employee, but the lure of the corner office is too great. It is in that space that Orson finds peace of mind and can do the great work for the company that he was born to do. But that isn’t enough for the company. Despite rewarding him with soft slippers, and pointing out to the rest of the staff his superior skills, they won’t, no, they cannot give him the corner office. They just don’t get it.

Consensual reality keeps the world spinning and when one person steps off the ship, the fear is that all will tumble with him. So, Orson loses his job, despite his good work.

I welled up at that scene. Feeling for the outsider, so challenged by the harsh nature of corporate work life. Maybe one of the benefits of the pandemic has been to break down the office culture.

Jon Haam has travelled far from Don Draper. He is excellent with the monkey mind internal monologue, though I think if he were permitted to break out of it now and then, the story would be stronger Christopher Heyerdahl is wonderful as his boss, cool, paternalistic and monstrous at once.

This dark and strange film is directed by Danish Joachim Back. Must catch his Oscar winning The New Tenants.