The Method

El método

2005 · Spain, Italy, Argentina · 115 min

Director: Marcelo Piñeyro
Screenplay: Jordi Galceran, Mateo Gil, Marcelo Piñeyro
Producer: Gerardo Herrero
Music: Frédéric Bégin
Cinematography: Alfredo F. Mayo
Based on: El Mètode Grönholm

What the critics say

71 % Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews

Cast

Natalia Verbeke

Adriana Ozores

Pablo Echarri

What it is about

Seven candidates for an executive post at a mysterious corporation are summoned to a conference room in a Madrid office tower. Once they realize they are locked in, they must pass a series of collective tests that eliminate applicants one by one until only one remains. Meanwhile, the social unrest outside seeps into the building and tightens the atmosphere.

How it was made

Marcelo Piñeyro directed the film from a screenplay he co-wrote with Mateo Gil and Jordi Galcerán, who adapted his own stage play El método Grönholm. Exteriors were shot in Madrid, including the Paseo de la Castellana, while the interiors were built on a soundstage imitating the Azca skyscrapers. It was a co-production between Spain, Italy and Argentina, with an eight-actor cast.

Reception and legacy

The film opened in Spain on 23 September 2005. It earned five Goya nominations and the Audience Award at the Flanders International Film Festival in 2006. Galcerán objected to the darker, more dramatic and dystopian turn the adaptation took, moving away from the vaudeville tone of the original play.