The movie
Show notes
Ruben Őstlund’s latest film savagely satirizes establishment complacency and self-regard, using the theme of modern art to reflect on the porous boundaries between civilization and barbarism. The surprise winner at the Cannes Film Festival this year was The Square , a provocative and disturbing satire from Swedish writer-director Ruben Őstlund. Őstlund made a splash a few years ago with an excellent little film called Force Majeure , about a man whose split-second cowardice when his family is apparently threatened by an avalanche at a Swiss ski resort creates ever-increasing problems. That was a dark comedy of discomfort, but The Square widens that scope considerably, taking aim at the hypocrisy of the entire political and social order, and eliciting both laughs and gasps from the film’s audience. Claes Bang plays Christian, the suave curator and public relations director of Stockholm’s modern art museum. Tall, dark, and handsome, with a slick public speaking delivery, Christian is excellent at keeping the museum on the cutting edge of art world prestige, as well as keeping its wealthy donors satisfied. At one speech announcing the museum’s latest high-profile installation, he stops reading his prepared written remarks, and talks off-the-cuff instead, successfully charming his audience. But in a previous scene we’ve witnessed him rehearsing that very ploy in private. That latest art installation gives the film its title. “The Square” is a four by four meter quadrant set into the plaza in front of the museum. The idea is that those standing within that small space are obligated to say yes to any person asking for help, in other words to provide help to the best of his or her ability. There’s a lot of high-handed liberal rhetoric attached to the piece, which is funny because it’s essentially an empty space. A couple of spiky young social media experts hired by the museum to promote the piece say it’s too bland to attract much attention. Their idea of how to change tha
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