Movie, museum and metaphor
In English and Swedish with English subtitles, The Square opens with a nearly off- screen woman asking museum curator Christian ( Claes Bang) if he’s awake.
He staggers from the couch and into an interview with Anne ( Elisabeth Moss), who asks him to clarify the museum’s cryptic claim about an “evening conversation” that explores, among other things, “the topos of exhibition/ non- exhibition in the crowded moments of mega- exhibition.” Christian fumbles through an unconvincing explanation that Anne only pretends to understand to avoid having to follow him down a rabbit hole of bookish double- speak.
Thus begins writer- director Ruben Östlund’s satirical foray into the elusive nature of the world of contemporary art, its patrons and its pretentions.
Following the opening interview, a surreal encounter in a crowded plaza square initiates an absurdist tableau of events ( I can’t call it a chain- reaction, because the events are more independently present than inextricably linked) that lead Christian on a journey from Good Samaritan to victim to conqueror and, finally, to helpless and hopelessly entangled dethroned former member of high society.
Against the recurring backdrop of an art installation consisting of small pyramids of pebbles and a neon sign announcing, “You Have Nothing,” Östlund leads the audience on a guided tour through a world populated by the haughty
and the homeless, an outburst of Tourette’s at a museum talk, a squabble over a used condom, a shocking viral ad- campaign, an obsessive pre- teen out for justice, and a chimp- man performance artist attempting to rape a young woman at a gala dinner before being savagely throttled by the posse of tuxedoed old men who finally wake up to her frantic cries for help.
Of the talented cast, Moss will probably be the most well- known to a Canadian audience from her award- winning role as June/ Offred on the hit Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale. Danish actor Bang brings an appropriate level of subdued tension to the role of Christian as a man desperate to erect straight lines to keep out the chaos that has suddenly intruded upon his life.
The “square” of the title refers to an ad campaign for an upcoming art installation that is described as a 4 x 4 metre square on the ground that is intended as “a sanctuary of trust and caring” and where “within it we all share equal rights and obligations.”
In a cheeky metaphorical take on art and life, this utopian ideal of right- angled perfection turns out to be fraught with meandering curves and unexpected U- turns. The film is peppered with such metaphors: Christian’s rehearsal of his “impromptu” speech, the furious chef trying to explain the art of his cooking to an inattentive mob, and a chimpanzee pointlessly applying makeup and painting in Anne’s living room. Each instance is a reminder that chaos reigns and that there are no right angles in nature.
With a running time of 142 minutes, The Square looks and feels like an afternoon trek through the Museum of Modern Art. Individually, the pieces can appear fascinating, horrifying, thoughtprovoking, puzzling and even pointless. On its own, each piece tells a story. But no one would attempt to create a unifying tale that encapsulates every piece in the gallery.
This, however, is exactly Östlund’s project. He walks us through the gallery’s rooms and threads together a narrative out of piles of pebbles. The museum is the heart of the movie. It is an architectural representation of the metaphorized square; it is home to myriad distinct creations, and it is a structure turned suture that serves the sole purpose of tying them all together.