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 share equal rights and obligations." Throughout the film, Östlund makes it his mission to show that such an egalitarian statement is only good on paper.

The chief curator of the museum himself, ironically-named Christian (portrayed by Danish-born Claes Bang), is not exempt from the scrutiny. In an earlier scene, while on his way to the museum, Christian finds himself in a situation where he has to help a lady in trouble which, it turns out, is only a decoy for stealing his mobile phone. The material loss is not something that Christian would take sitting down. In fact, aside from planning to track down and take back the phone, he wants to exact revenge on the culprit. So where is the "caring" attitude here, as indicated in "the square"? It appears here that the prime proponent of the philosophy would become its foremost violator. Yet, despite the "humiliation", Christian still does his best to look dignified, even if there are some issues he has to contend with in relation to the museum itself. Foremost of which is the promotional video in regards his "square" project that has gone viral. The intention may really be well-meant, but what manifests in action tells otherwise.

Christian himself is a conflicted personality. He is dignified, but then he wants to execute an act of retaliation against the person who did an offense to him. He is generous, but still cannot avoid being egocentric at times. He is intelligent, but it still does happen that it gets the better of him. And as portrayed by Claes Bang, the theater-bred actor does a marvelous job of making us sympathize with his character, despite all the contradictions. I guess it would not be a hyperbole to say that yet again the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Around Christian, several situations (the film's absurdly comic setpieces) happen that illustrate what humans might really are when tossed down a rabbit-hole.

A terrific example of these (which can be a short film in itself) is that part wherein a gala dinner is hosted by Christian for the museum's rich patrons and supporters. As part of the program, the guests are "treated" to a performance-art by one of the museum's main attractions - the Ape-Man (portrayed by real-life motion-capture artist Terry Notary), a shirtless burly man with a face contoured like an ape and who is really behaving like one. At first, everything is turning out just...fine. But as inherent in "unpredictable" performances like that, the event veers toward the uncomfortable and uninhibited as it proceeds further. When the boiling point is inevitably reached, in an instance that is inarguably shocking in its suddenness, those who get involved in it prove to be no less brutish than the Ape-Man himself. One realizes how outrageous the whole thing is when one learns, as revealed by Notary himself in an interview, that Östlund just let the former do whatever it is that he wants to happen in the scene and that the guests were actual art patrons who had completely no idea about what the Ape-Man might do to them. Notary further mentioned that some of the guests were actually eager to take part in his antics, but that he chose those who were really trying to avoid him as they would most likely have the best possible "reaction". So I guess Dominic West (who plays a visiting artist) and that poor lady didn't "expect" it coming to them, eh?

As in any good satire, what appears to be funny belies a firm misanthropy. The visitors are more eager to eat right away than to listen to how the chef explains each of the cuisine he has lovingly prepared. A cleaning-man accidentally makes a mess of a carefully-mounted museum piece. No one takes notice of the beggar asking for alms on the street. When it happens that someone bothers to give them a hand (as Christian does), they would in turn ask for the arm as well. When asked by an American journalist (Elisabeth Moss) to explain a particular concept found on the museum's website (in the film's opening scene), the chief curator himself is lost for words. And because Christian is steadfast in getting back at the robber, a young boy is unfairly castigated by his parents. There is something heady brewing in these scenarios, but it is Östlund's gift as a director/writer that he is able to present them in a brilliantly entertaining way. In fact, there is a lot of ideas brewing in the filmmaker's head and yet he still finds a way to illustrate each of them in one way or another on the epic canvas that is "The Square".

Perhaps, my only complain is that the spell that the film has put us under for the last two hours is somewhat dissipated in the last fifteen minutes or so, as the scenarios in that duration already feel unnecessary or too much of a point, just like an alcoholic concoction that provides the kicks more than what is tolerable. Unless it was really intended to serve as an epilogue, given the very nature of epilogues. Though in an interview, Östlund himself confessed that he tightened the final twenty minutes of the film (he served as one of the editors) before submitting it to the Oscars for consideration in the Best Foreign-Language Film category (and, as we all know, it eventually got the nomination). Nevertheless, "The Square" remains a potent unmasking of the face that we put on in the name of moral ascendancy as well as a brave deconstruction of the institutions that make us put on such a face.

(Claes Bang is on the brink of crumbling in Ruben Östlund's "The Square")