The Square (2017)

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Movie
German title The Square
Original title The Square
Country of production Sweden , Germany , France , Denmark
original language Swedish , English , Danish
Publishing year 2017
length 142 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Ruben Östlund
script Ruben Östlund
production Erik Hemmendorf ,
Philippe Bober
camera Fredrik Wenzel
cut Ruben Östlund
occupation

The Square is a feature film by Ruben Östlund from the year 2017 . The satirical drama, a European co-production, is based on an original script by the Swedish director. Östlund focuses on a well-respected museum curator (played by Claes Bang ) who is plunged into an existential crisis by the theft of his cell phone and a controversial commercial for an art installation.

The film premiered on May 20, 2017 in competition at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival and won the festival's main prize with the Palme d'Or. A theatrical release in Sweden and the United Kingdom took place on August 25, 2017. In Germany, the film opened in theaters on October 19, 2017.

action

Christian is the curator of a contemporary art museum in Stockholm . He is divorced, has two girls and lives alone.

After falling victim to a fraud in a pedestrian zone, Christian misses his smartphone and wallet. Later he was able to locate the cell phone in a large apartment block and, together with his assistant, developed a plan to demand its return in an anonymous threatening letter. They print dozens of copies of the letter, and at night Christian throws a copy in the mailbox at every single apartment in the entire block. In fact, a few days later, Christian gets the phone and the completely untouched wallet back.

After the success of his project, Christian euphorically goes to a party where he meets the journalist Anne, who previously interviewed him. He ends up in her apartment, where he notices a chimpanzee who appears to be Anne's roommate. Although Christian is irritated, he sleeps with her. A few days later, Anne checks him out at the museum and says that the evening was more than just casual sex for her. He evades her, whereupon she accuses him of taking advantage of his position of power to have sex with women. He denies this and explains that she herself is obviously drawn to power. When Anne later tries to call him, he doesn't answer the phone.

A little boy confronts Christian in his stairwell: His parents have received one of the threatening letters and now believe that he is a thief, which is why they have given him house arrest and a ban on gambling. The boy asks Christian to apologize to him and his family, otherwise he will cause chaos in his life. Christian tries to send him away, whereupon he gets physical and the boy falls down a flight of stairs. He then seems to leave, but a short time later Christian hears the boy repeatedly calling for help in his apartment. Christian half-heartedly searches the stairwell for the origin of the voice, but finds nothing. The calls torment him, whereupon Christian desperately searches the garbage in the courtyard for a note that contains the boy's phone number. He eventually finds her and tries unsuccessfully to call the boy. As an alternative, Christian records a video message that begins as a sincere apology but develops into a meandering essay about society, class and politics.

A few days later, Christian drives to the apartment block and tries to find the boy and his family. He speaks to a neighbor who claims he knew a boy who fits the description but who has moved out with his family.

During these events, Christian not only has to look after his two daughters from time to time, but also has to apply for a new exhibition. At its center is the art installation The Square , a four by four meter square with a white border on a public square. Christian cites several times a description of The Square as a “haven of trust and care. Here everyone has the same rights and duties ”.

The advertising agency commissioned by the museum wants to create a controversy about the exhibition in the social media with an advertising clip because the work of art itself is too positive and bland. At the crucial meeting with the agency, however, Christian is absent because of his private difficulties and the rest of the team is surprised and incredulous by the approach, but does not intervene. For example, a clip will later be shown on the museum's YouTube channel in which a white-blonde toddler in poor clothes with a kitten in her arms enters The Square and is then killed in an explosion. The clip is viewed hundreds of thousands of times, but it provokes extremely hostile reactions in the media and the general public. The museum is forced to hold a press conference at which Christian takes the blame for the clip and declares his resignation as curator. Several journalists attacked him thereupon - some because he had sparked controversy cheaply with a tasteless clip, while others criticized him for alleged self-censorship or accused him of cowardly giving up the right to artistic freedom .

Christian later reads a tabloid that has devoted several pages to the controversial clip, the reactions of the public and also the exhibition and the work of art.

Production notes

Claes Bang dubbed himself for the German version of the film.

The artwork featured in the film, The Square , really does exist. It was developed in the run-up to the film by Ruben Östlund together with Kalle Boman and is exhibited as a permanent installation in the Swedish city of Värnamo .

The Argentine artist Lola Arias has been taking legal action against the production since 2018 . She is mentioned several times in the film as the author of the work of art. This had not been agreed with her and damaged her reputation.

music

  1. Genesis - Justice
  2. Shinai - Curbi
  3. Downbeat - Jon Ekstrand , Carl-Johan Sevedag
  4. No Good (Extended Mix) - Fedde Le Grand , Sultan
  5. Make Your Own - Andreas Franck
  6. Run amok - amok
  7. Chains - amok
  8. Party at the Castle - Claes Bang
  9. Johann Sebastian Bach : Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068: II. Air (arranged for vocal ensemble ) - The Swingle Singers
  10. Improvisació 1 - Bobby McFerrin

reception

After its world premiere, The Square received critical acclaim and was one of the favorites for the Golden Palm. In the international reviews of the British trade magazine Screen International, the film came in third best of all competition films together with Wonderstruck by Todd Haynes (2.7 out of four possible stars), behind the Russian film Loveless (3.2 stars) and A Beautiful Day by Lynne Ramsay (3.1).

Hannah Pilarczyk ( Spiegel Online ) reviewed The Square as a “terrific social satire” and as one of “the first major highlights of the festival”. She highlighted Östlund's “smart” production and the “brilliant cut” and speculated on a festival prize. As before in Force Majeure, Östlund chose "a fool to be the main character". The director takes on "just negotiating everything: the faded art business, social inequality, the limits of charity and compassion," says Pilarczyk.

According to Tobias Kniebe ( Süddeutsche Zeitung ) , Östlund “looks just as unmoved” as in his previous film on the Stockholm art scene. “Basically, it is about the inability of a man to meaningfully define himself in his own over-coded and highly refined world of political correctness for a long time, because archaic impulses such as fear, lust and aggression cannot be permanently suppressed.” The Square is based on this idea not completely held together, "but lead to some unforgettable scenes," said Kniebe. Also Verena Lueken ( Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ) fell on "great scenes," while also "lousy idea" how the fundraising dinner scene with Terry Notary as monkeys. She rated Östlund's previous film as much stronger.

Andreas Kilb (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) calls the film “a cinematic punch line without a joke” and criticizes the Cannes jury, which awarded the film the Palme d'Or. The director Östlund distracts "with great staging effort from the fact that he is not really interested in anything he shows."

Awards

The Square won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival , the main prize of the festival. The film had been nominated for the competition. Production designer Josefin Åsberg was awarded the Prix ​​Vulcain de l'artiste technicien . In the same year five European film awards followed (best film, best comedy film, director, actor - Claes Bang, screenplay). Åsberg received the award for best production design in the run-up to the award ceremony.

In August 2017, The Square was selected as the official Swedish nominee for an Oscar nomination in the category of Best Foreign Language Film and achieved one nomination. At the awards ceremony of the Golden Globe Awards in 2018 , another nomination followed in the same category.

As part of the Goya film award ceremony , the film was recognized as the best European film in 2018.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Approval for The Square . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 171557 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Profile at plattformproduktion.se (accessed on May 19, 2017).
  3. ↑ Festival Screenings Guide at festival-cannes.com (accessed on May 19, 2017).
  4. ↑ Release Info in the Internet Movie Database (accessed on May 19, 2017).
  5. ↑ The Square ( memento of August 29, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) at alamodefilm.de (accessed October 19, 2017).
  6. ↑ Jan Schliecker: Appearance or Being | choices - culture. Movie theater. Cologne. October 18, 2017, accessed November 7, 2017 .
  7. ↑ From artwork to film. femundo.de, accessed on November 6, 2017 .
  8. ↑ Lola Arias and "The Square" - personal rights against artistic freedom. Retrieved on February 10, 2020 (German).
  9. ↑ Grater, Tom: Could Lynne Ramsay top 'Loveless' on Screen's Cannes jury grid? at screendaily.com, May 27, 2017 (accessed May 28, 2017).
  10. ↑ Das Karma des Westens at Spiegel Online , May 20, 2017 (accessed May 28, 2017).
  11. ↑ Kniebe, Tobias: The dominance of the gorilla male . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , March 24, 2017, p. 10.
  12. ↑ Lueken, Verena: Cool sand in a dark room . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , May 22, 2017, No. 118, p. 11.
  13. ↑ Andreas Kilb: Skin the monkey, beat the art! www.faz.net, October 21, 2017, accessed October 21, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Livestream via canalplus.fr (accessed on May 28, 2017).
  15. ↑ Addings to the selection of the 70th Festival de Cannes at festival-cannes.com, April 27, 2017 (accessed April 28, 2017).
  16. ↑ Keslassy, ​​Elsa: Palme d'Or Winner 'The Square' Is Sweden's Pick for Foreign-Language Oscar at variety.com, August 23, 2017 (accessed August 29, 2017).
  17. ↑ Los premiados de los Goya 2018 . Article dated February 3, 2018, accessed February 4, 2018.