Bizarre tale of a society in need of help.
Prior to watching last year’s Palme d’Or winner and now Oscar nominated Triangle of Sadness (the review of which is linked at the denouement of this article), I was wholly unaware of the films of Swedish born filmmaker Ruben Ostlund. In 2017 The Square was Ruben’s sixth all time feature length film in a career that now stretches to seven with his Oscar nominated look into the grotesque excess of vacuous capitalistic success and as much as I enjoyed the bizarre journey into that particular Mediterranean triangle of existential emptiness, I couldn’t resist dipping my toe into his most recent past as well with another Palme d’Or winning, Oscar nominated take on the breakdown of society we all see but refuse to believe.
Recorded in Swedish, Danish and English (with English subtitles when appropriate) the opening 12 minutes of this blackly comedic existential exploration of cognitive dissonance commences with “Christian” (Claes Bang) somewhat sleepily drifting through an interview with journalist “Anne” (Elisabeth Moss). As he warms to his task amid the film’s first overt through line of the commercialisation and promotion of modern art, Christian begins to promote the X-Royal Museum he is the proud curator of. Whilst an exhibit of several piles of gravel reside in one room under a neon lit banner of “You Have Nothing”, the latest exhibit, “The Square”, is being created out of brickwork, ready for display. This 4X4 metre square offers “A sanctuary of trust and caring. We all share, within its boundaries, equal rights and obligations” and with the interview now complete, Christian emerges outside into a busy Stockholm full of the hustle and bustle of humanity who, like him, are constantly looking downward at their mobile telephones.
With everyone distracted and constantly looking the other way (another through line of the film to come), they all refuse to recognise the beggar lying huddled and presumably asleep against a nearby wall whilst also refusing to engage with an unnamed character walking amongst them asking “Do you want to help save a human life?”. The word “help” has been used for the first time in a film that would soon become synonymous with its use. Almost immediately there is a guttural screaming of the word, then again and again as a young lady screams for help and protection from a man running toward her. Christian and another man hesitate to intervene but do so, calming a distressing situation before, with life returning once more to the busyness of distracted, captured people in their own digital worlds, the two men laugh uproariously at the bizarre event that has briefly skirted their lives. Christian bids his passing friend goodbye as he realises his mobile telephone has been stolen.
From here you’re on your own!
Whilst of course the film explores the meaning of modern art and what inspirations lay behind their individual conceptions and constitutions, there are many further strands and layers of a biting and darkly black social commentary that is disquieting and often shockingly discombobulating. Questions are starkly raised as to social inequality, humanity and despite the repeated cries for help, why do supposed liberally minded people look the other way? Values such as free speech as well as the increasingly narrow window of acceptability in the internet age pervade a film that is also deliberately bathed in background distractions whether subjective (and so spoiler withheld) or overt such as a toppling exhibit, a dog, a crying baby or the beggars that are in the most desperate need of the help the film cries out for on their behalf.
All four headline roles are brilliantly portrayed, especially and noteworthily so by Claes Bang in a somewhat Coen Brothers style of a man in the middle of a maelstrom of madness that, whether he intends to or not, exacerbates and escalates the problems enveloping him. He is, quite literally, surrounded in a “chaos” that is both spelt for him as well as being writ large by his own actions and inactions and whilst his public persona is of a shining paragon of virtue, he is disintegrating from the inside out.
One further role of note falls to Terry Notary in a scene that, much like the incredibly difficult to watch scene mid-way through Triangle of Sadness, is a scene that simply has to be seen to be believed. I’ve deliberately alluded to this shocking scene with my choice of film poster to headline this article and if you thought the equivalent scene in Triangle of Sadness is shocking, strap in, cry for help and whatever you do, look the other way.
In a 2017 interview for the magazine “Artspace”, director Ruben Ostlund is quoted as saying:
“I’m interested in creating dilemmas for the characters in my films. Situations where there are two or more opportunities and none of them are easy” and thus is The Square.
Thanks for reading. Just for larks as always, and always a human reaction rather than spoilers galore. My three most recently published film articles are linked below or there’s well over 200 blog articles (with 400+ individual film reviews) within my archives from which to choose:
“The Fabelmans (2022)
A very ordinary disappointment.medium.com
“You People” (2023)
Dreadful bore-fest.medium.com
“Triangle of Sadness” (2022)
“I’m not obsessed with money!”medium.com