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.