The Art Club: The Square

Christian (Danish Claes Bang) is the director of a prestigious museum of contemporary art in Stockholm -- a world of grand ideals, curatorial language, wealthy backers, provocative performance art and PR people in search of attention.

Right now, the museum is about to launch 'The Square': a luminous square in urban space intended to be a sanctuary of trust and care, where everyone has equal rights and obligations. But the ideals come under pressure as Christian is subjected to a trick theft and himself reacts less civilised than he imagines. At the same time, the museum's hunt for viral impact runs off track, while a cross-border performance at a monstrous gala dinner makes the varnish of civilization crack.

Ruben Östlund uses the art institution's self-understanding as a laboratory for a larger satire on class, power, social responsibility and our notions of ourselves as tolerant and progressive people. With corrosive humour, he again and again lets the beautiful ideals collide with vanity, cowardice and herd mentality.

As a nice extra tip on the satire, the museum is the fictional X-Royal Museum, set in the former royal castle of an alternative Sweden where the monarchy has been abolished. 'The Square' won the Gold Palm at Cannes in 2017. 'Time Out' gave the film four stars, calling it “refreshingly original, witty and thoughtful”.

Director: Ruben Östlund
Starring: Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West, Terry Notary
Country/year: Sweden, Germany, France, Denmark, 2017
Running time: 151 min.
Formato: DCP
Language: Danish subtitles
Age limit: Allowed for children over 15

Part of the series: Featured events OKT-DEC
Look forward to an autumn with lots of special cinematic experiences in Cinemateket. Among other things, meet Darkmates for movies with forbar, come to an evening with Linda Wendel - or (re) watch 'Blow-Up' on the occasion of the publication of a magazine about film and fashion.