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The story of an office that faces closure when the company decides to downsize its branches. A documentary film crew follow staff and the manager David Brent as they continue their daily lives.
Fortunately the BBC series (2001-'03), totaling about eight hours, has been collected on DVD, and this marathon screening offers neophytes a chance to immerse themselves in its black humor and disarming pathos.
Written and directed by star Gervais and Stephen Merchant, "The Office" stings with its depiction of office politics and personalities at their most petulant.
t's a hilarious, funny, terrific show, but it's also a deeply sad one, a comic tragedy that puts the emphasis on the latter word in the final two episodes of its second series.
The humor's slightly darker than the American version, with more focus on characters' dissatisfaction with their dead-end job at a paper company, and Ricky Gervais steals every scene he's in as David Brent, the bumbling boss.
Although you'll never forget that The Office is fake, one aspect of the show feels very real: It captures the blend of frustration and tedium that makes up the bulk of most people's lives.
But if we are to take The Office as a perfect artistic expression of the passions, desires and fears of our age, like a Michelangelo painting but on telly and starring a fat bloke, what makes it what it is?
It's worth taking a trip to the darker, more depressing, awkward, uncomfortable, and just plain sad version of The Office that started it all: the original.
The genius of the show is Gervais, who also writes and directs, putting the vile Brent into situations that are ripe for disaster - and promptly turn out much worse than anyone could have imagined.