QCinema 2017: Ruben Östlund's The Square
When put in an extreme situation, how do humans actually react? Can they still behave in a morally sound way? Or all the moral scruples totally break down? As in his breakthrough film (though not exactly his first) " Force Majeure ", such questions are once again explored by Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund in " The Square " (2017, Sweden), Palme d'Or-winner, Oscar-nominee and shown in last October's QCinema. But whereas such questions were tackled within a domestic context in "Force Majeure", in "The Square" they are now being gauged against the art world (a museum in particular) and its bourgeois patrons. To that effect, "The Square" is more ambitious and audacious. The concept of "the square" in the film is itself ambitious and audacious - placed outside a museum in Stockholm called Royal-X Museum, the inscription on the plaque reads as: "The Square is a sanctuary of trust and caring. Within it we all sh...