The film is a variation on the Ten Little Indians mystery, except here it is a group of corporate high-fliers applying for the same job. Having assembled in a clinical Madrid office suite, the applicants in the final stage of a contest for a top management position are whittled away in a series of pyschological tests using a little-known, American, human resources strategy called the Gronholm Method. The Method pits each applicant against the others. Each round a loser is eliminated. The winner is the last one standing.

To say more would be to spoil the suspense, but the concept has plenty of mileage. It's like a movie-length variation of Big Brother set in a spanish board room. After a while you hook onto the personalities of each of the applicants, their style and attitude. The fact that they all share a cockiness that they will be the chosen one, makes the elimination process all the more fun. The acting is uniformly convincing, giving the twisty story its full due and drawing out the nuances of the tragi-comic tone. You barely notice that all the action is taking place in such a confined space.

The story does take some artistic licence in the depiction of the rarified world of top management, for obvious dramatic reasons. For instance, two ex-lovers coincidentally find themselves in the same competition, which you suspect would not be tolerated even for this abnormal job interview. Also, attempts to parallel the dog-eat-dog competition within the board room with noisy anti-globalization protests happening in the street below feel a little clumsy. However, these faults are forgiveable in a drama that sees plenty of sparks fly in the battle of egos and wits and that ultimately keeps you guessing to the end.