The Square (2017): Who Do We Think We Are?

Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund is certainly a screenwriter and director worth paying attention to. His 2014 movie, Force Majeure picked up the Un Certain Regard jury prize at Cannes, along with numerous other awards and nominations, and definitely put him on the map with US audiences, while provoking considerable discussion among movie-goers generally. His new feature, The Square - winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) award at the 2017 Cannes film Festival – has just opened. It's a funny, entertaining and provocative film,  a movie you ought to see.

In Force Majeure, an attractive young couple on a ski vacation with their young children at a posh resort in the Swiss alps are having lunch at terrace cafe while taking in the breathtaking view, when a terrifying avalanche rumbles down the mountain toward them and the other guests. In the pandemonium that ensues, the husband grabs his iPhone and skedaddles in a panic - forgetting his kids, his wife, and his honor. Although the avalanche spares the resort, the reverberations of the husband’s unvalorous retreat infuses the rest of the film.  The Washington Post called it “a stylish, acutely observant psychodrama that changes tone so deftly between social comedy of manners and mournful meditation on gender roles that the viewer isn’t quite sure whether to laugh or sigh.” Stephen Holden of the NY Times said it was a ”brilliant, viciously amusing takedown of bourgeois complacency.”

Although the story is different, similar comments apply to The Square, which is, if anything, a more ambitious picture. It’s also funnier and at the same time, more discomfiting. Bourgeois complacency certainly remains a target, but Östlund’s focus this time is less domestic – not so much about gender relationships (although one subplot hilariously zeroes in on that topic). Instead, he offers a broader, more distinctly critical, satirical examination of the breakdown of community values in Western society – the disconnect between our ideals and our actions, between what we really believe and what we say (to ourselves and others) we believe; our focus on and promotion of individual self-interest over community responsibility; our increasing distrust of one another, of media, institutions, the state; and our increasingly blurred and fragmented conception of the meaning or importance of truth.

 This sounds awfully heavy, not to mention banal. In fact, The Square is for most of its two hours twenty minutes runtime quite engaging and drolly entertaining, even as it is at times squirm-inducing. The squirmy moments are, of course, signs that the film is hitting its mark.

The protagonist a good-looking middle aged chief curator of a major modern art museum in Stockholm. This being an allegorical movie, his name is Christian. Christian (Danish actor Claes Bang) seems to have it made: aesthetically interesting career, the esteem of his peers, a beautiful home, plenty of dough, and an elegantly rumpled style that appeals to the opposite sex. He drives a Tesla, subscribes to progressive values and is interested in using his position to make the world a better place. Indeed, he is spearheading an upcoming exhibit at the museum called The Square, a goal of which is to awaken public awareness of our shared social responsibilities.

But then, of course, shit happens – or more politely, entropy happens – from order comes disorder. Happenstance, misjudgments, and unintended consequences all conspire to burst the bubble and precipitate a downward spiral. Might this lead to insight and redemption – who can say?

The idea for the film comes from an actual art installation also called The Square, with which Östlund was involved a few years ago in Sweden. As part of this project, a large, LED-bordered square was inlaid on a public plaza. It’s still there today. Signage instructs people that within this square it is one’s duty to act and react if someone else needs help. This begs the question: why do folks need instructions to act this way? And isn’t it odd that that the zone of helpfulness and brotherhood is seemingly constrained to such a small patch. As another part of this project, museum visitors had to choose between two entry points to the exhibition: To enter from the left side, one pressed a button under a sign reading “I trust people”; the right-side entrance was beneath a sign stating “I mistrust people”. Östlund says most people entered from the left but then got “cold-feet” when later instructed to leave their cell phones and wallets at a designated spot on the exhibition’s floor. Both of these ideas make their way into the movie.

As a liberal guy, concerned with doing the right thing, why is Christian fearful of the underclass and the poor? (By extension, why are we?) When his professional negligence leads to criticism, why does he try to blame others? When his kids are upset and quarrelling, why does he get upset and yell at them?  And when he asks for help in a public place, like a mall, why does everyone else ignore him?

Modern art and the art establishment are frequent targets of satire, and there’s a bunch of that here, as we’d expect. But The Square scores moral points too off these easy marks, as when a floor exhibit is damaged (comically), and Christian elects to surreptitiously repair it without notifying the artist. Political correctness gets its due when a public interview is disrupted by an audience member with Tourettes. As all comedians know, sexual satire is always good for laughs; so here, Östlund ties this to his theme of trust/mistrust as a couple fights over a used condom in possibly the funniest scene I’ve seen since the “naked party” episode in last year’s Toni Erdmann (This is an R-rated movie folks.)

Also funny, definitely memorable, and perhaps the most uncomfortable segment in The Square involves a performance artist in the role of an ape-like pre-human at a posh museum fundraising dinner – a brilliant, must-see performance by the incredible Terry Notary. 

Claes Bang in the lead role is terrific as  Christian. Whether expressing anger, remorse, thoughtfulness, embarrassment or any of a slew of other emotions, he’s believable and always watchable. Other standout performances include Elizabeth Moss as an American freelance journalist, Christopher Læssø as a member of Christian’s staff, and the youngster Alejandro Edouard as an aggrieved and determined immigrant kid. Speaking of kids, if there was an award for best piteous or woebegone expression by a child in a feature film, I’d give it to Lilianne Mardon, who plays Christian’s younger daughter. Dominic West also appears and is fine as a complacent avant-garde artist.

The movie’s only fault – a minor one, in my view - is that it could have been a tad shorter. Force Majeure’s run-time was just two hours and something closer to that mark would be an improvement here. Not that I was looking at my watch during the picture.

The Square made me laugh, touched my heart and made me think. That makes it a winner in my book.  Highly recommended.

145 minutes   –   rated “R”

Grade A

Currently showing in select theaters nationwide, including the SF Bay Area, L.A. area, NY metropolitan area, DC, Seattle, Dallas, and elsewhere. Opening in additional cities through November and December. Check HERE for a location near you.

 

Novitiate (2017): Oh Sister!

As those who know me are aware, I am not a religious person – organized or otherwise. So this favorable review may come as a surprise to some.

Novitiate is a fascinating look at a milieu rarely seen on film, certainly in a narrative film: the world inside a most insular Western institution - a Roman Catholic convent. Focusing on one of the young female novices, Sister Cathleen (Margaret Qualley), a seeker who entered the cloister as a girl of just sixteen, the film is above all and most surprisingly a romantic and deeply emotional love story - for Cathleen has fallen deeply and passionately in love with Jesus. It’s as much an affair of the heart as of the spirit, carrying with it most of the attendant features one might expect in such a youthful romance: devotion, idealization, guilt, sexual passion, disappointment, neediness, selflessness and obsession.

More generally, the film encompasses not just Sister Cathleen’s story, but also the experiences of her fellow postulants and novitiates - the young women who seek entry into this sisterhood, each hoping to become a “Bride of Christ” - and also the perspective of some of the nuns who are teaching and guiding them. Why would a girl choose to enter the cloistered life? For some it’s a calling; for others it’s their family’s expectation, or a commitment to service, a desire for community, or just escape from oppressive social pressures. For one of Cathleen’s cohort, it was Audrey Hepburn (see below)! Regardless of the initial motivation, in various ways most of these women exemplify both the motivating power of faith and an ongoing struggle to justify and maintain that faith.

Novitiate is also a tale of tumult and change. Set primarily in the early 1960s, when the dramatic reforms of the Second Vatican Council (“Vatican II”) upset centuries of Catholic custom and theology and rocked the world of many Religious, such as the devout leader of this convent, known as Reverend Mother (Melissa Leo). Reverend Mother is a traditionalist, a purist, a strict disciplinarian and an authoritarian leader, even suggesting to her charges that they should consider her instructions and admonitions as the voice of God. As portrayed in a dazzling performance by Melissa Leo, she is a despicably harsh and yet touchingly sympathetic character – a woman who has devoted herself to her church and to her husband Jesus - who experiences Vatican II as an abandonment.

Vatican II is commonly seen as ushering in long needed modernization and liberalization to the Roman Catholic Church. For example, mass was no longer to be conducted in latin, but in the common language of the congregants. Most pertinent to Novitiate, nuns were no longer expected to live in relative seclusion in convents, cloisters and the like, but could live anywhere, and in fact were encouraged to engage more with the outside world; similarly, nuns no longer had to dress in the traditional habit robes but could dress (conservatively) in ordinary street clothes. Many sisters welcomed such reforms, but some did not. Most heinous to the likes of Reverend Mother, the edicts reduced the status of nuns from theologically exalted members of the Catholic community to just like anyone else, calling into question the desirability and unique benefits of taking vows at all. Although a causal relationship is still debated, there is no question that following Vatican II, there was a sharp decline in the number of American nuns.  In 1965, about when Novitiate ends and a year after the promulgation of the new Vatican rules, there were over 180,000 Catholic religious women in the United States.  A decade later, there were less than 70,000.  It does not go unnoticed by Novitiate that nuns and other women religious were not consulted in the promulgation of the Vatican II changes; sexism and oppression of women by the Church patriarchy is yet another theme the movie touches.

The only other narrative film of note that I can recall with a story about becoming a nun is the aptly named The Nun’s Story (1959) with Audrey Hepburn in the lead. [Sorry, folks, Sister Act (1992) is not in this category. And 2008’s Doubt, while excellent and serious, had a very different focus.]  Novitiate, like The Nuns Story, depicts a young woman’s struggle to live up to the institutional goal and her own aspiration toward spiritual perfection, i.e. a selfless love of and devotion to God as personified by Jesus. But the earlier picture, made in and reflecting the prevailing culture of the 1950s, romanticizes the process somewhat.  And while initially depicting the world of Sister Luke (Hepburn) as a novitiate in a 1930s French abbey, the second half of the film moves well beyond her training period to focus on her career expectations and hopes – first to work as a nurse in the Congo, and later to help the French resisting the Nazis threatening her family – and how she deals with the hierarchical constraints on these desires.

Novitiate, however, stays focused throughout on Sister Cathleen’s experiences within the walls of her convent, and how she and the other young postulants and novitiates are tried and tested in their quest to be worthy of and accepted by the Catholic sisterhood.  They are required to reconcile their spiritual and emotional ardor with the self-abnegation demanded by the Church, as represented by Reverend Mother – a regime, moreover, increasingly at odds with the rapidly changing mores of the secular world outside. In some respects, this movie too romanticizes Sister Cathleen’s journey: she is made to look not only soulful, but beautiful too – one could even say sensual. But then, this is in keeping with the love story theme and is more than counterbalanced by the several depictions of Reverend Mother’s severe disciplinary requirements. 

Among its other merits, Novitiate, a film all about women, is also a film made largely by women: written and directed by Maggie Betts; photographed by Kat Westergaard; produced by Celine Rattray, Trudie Styler and their production company, Maven Pictures; and with a cast made up almost entirely of women (with the notable exception of Denis O’Hare as the Archbishop). Its point of view, thus untainted by male bias or chauvinism, is refreshingly feminine.  This is not to suggest the movie is preachy or polemical; it’s not that at all. Also of note: although the filmmakers are neither Catholic nor particularly religious, the film is not at all disparaging of the faith of its characters.  Rather, it is respectful of their beliefs and empathizes with their aspirations and struggles.

Ultimately, though, what makes this picture worth seeing is the quality of the work. Although this is Betts’ first narrative feature, her screenplay is tight and believable, her direction quite assured. She is aided by the experience of cinematographer Westergaard, whose beautiful photography is intimate and immediate, perfectly highlighting the fine performances of a talented ensemble. Novitiate’s leisurely pace is a big plus, as we get to know and appreciate each of the multiple characters a little bit, allowing a complex of different perspectives to come forward.

Even so, our protagonist Sister Cathleen remains somewhat of a mystery. What, ultimately, is drivingthis young woman to withdraw from the world and devote the rest of her life to God? I’ve listed many of her apparent motivations elsewhere, and yet it’s still a conundrum for me. Perhaps it’s nothing more than the mystery of faith, which I’ll never fully understand. As the movie progresses, one senses that Cathleen doesn’t fully understand either. Still, she presents a very intriguing enigma. That she is so watchable has more than a little to do with Qualley’s fine performance.

Cathleen’s mother Nora, memorably played by Julianne Nicholson [August: Osage County (2013)], doesn’t understand her daughter either. A single mother – Cathleen’s father having abandoned them years earlier – Nora makes no secret of her secularism and her dislike of organized religion, even as she takes advantage of a proffered scholarship to allow Cathleen to attend Catholic high school.She is similarly frank about matters relating to sex and her relationships with a series of men. So Cathleen’s decision to pursue a completely different life, a life of devotion, floors her; and when Cathleen steadfastly pushes Nora away on her rarely permitted visits to the convent, she is deeply hurt. “What have you done to my daughter?” she demands of Reverend Mother.

 The young nun in charge of instructing the novitiates, Sister Grace (Dianna Agron [Quinn Fabray on the series Glee]), chafes at the draconian punishments for rule infractions imposed on her charges by Reverend Mother and at the medieval methods of instruction she sometimes requires. But there is no arguing with Reverend Mother. Agron’s Grace provides a tenderness and compassion for the students, which she hopes will counterbalance Reverend Mother’s steely severity. But when Grace welcomes the Vatican II reforms as long overdue, she comes into dramatic conflict with her inflexible leader.

Reverend Mother is, in some ways, the most interesting character in Novitiate. She should be an out and out villainess. She’s cruel, autocratic – tyrannical even. She rages one minute and coldly slides in the icy psychological knife in the next. Yet Melissa Leo somehow makes us understand that this woman has a heart and a soul; that she means to do right by her God; that she deeply believes it’s her duty to guide these young women with tough love. Most remarkably, Leo is able to convey the Reverend Mother’s anguish when confronted with Vatican II so well that it’s heartbreaking. Remarkably, we empathize. I would not be surprised if, come January, this performance earns Leo an award or two.

Novitiate has little outright action, but it is fascinating - lovely, thought-provoking and beautifully acted - an emotional, but not melodramatic character study, a fascinating historical narrative. I think you’ll find it time well spent.

123 minutes  Rated R

Grade: A

Rolling release in select theaters.

Update: now available on most streaming services [but as of 3/14/2018, not Netflix].