Review of The Square (2017) by Christiana C — 11 Mar 2018

[Spoiler].

I must say I was slightly disappointed since the director just made one of my all time favorite movies (Force Majeure) just 3 years ago. My expectation was high.

Cinematography seemed similar, with classical music, a parent as a protagonist and the juxtaposition of two very distinct worlds. And for both movies, I had boyfriends who were bored out of their minds (two different guys, but both not sharing my movie tastes.). I'm not sure if it was because of Markus' influence but I also found the first half pretty boring, but the moment he left I started to "get it." I guess I'll never find out now, but I can speak of the parts that I think I understood.

The movie is about the Square being a small sample and symbol of the world today where we should regard as a sanctuary of trust and caring. (quote: "The Square is a sanctuary of trust and caring. Within it we all share equal rights and obligations.") The movie starts with busy people all glued to their own phones, diverging in their own ways at a square by a subway station. From the beginning to the end, we see beggars who are clearly alone and separated from humanity. We see Christian, the protagonist starting to blend in with that world, and then a clash, and eventually breaks down his inner barrier and seeks to mend it.

The protagonist is a well-known, successful guy in the arts world who's constantly questioning the boundary of art. "If I put your bag in this (museum) room, does it make it art?" But despite this, he is so set in his own world and draws a line between him and the ones who are impoverished. He's selfish, self-loving and in the movie, made a decision that brought inconvenience to every unit of an apartment building (13 floors?) to achieve his own good. In a way he was living a hypocritical life, advocating and honoring work like The Square, while not trusting or caring of others. This movie shows his weaving in and out of this boundary and eventually realizing that this whole world is in fact The Square. There should be no in or out, but we're all in this together. This is largely due to the little boy breaks his world and brings clarity to his life. Phone and wallet, our modern definition of "the 2 most important things" are stolen by others in the beginning of the movie. After the transformation, he goes to the "bad neighborhood" where his thief lives and leaves his two daughters in his Tesla car. His two daughters are in fact the two most important things in life and now he trusts the world.

There lots of great little symbols in the movie I enjoy spotting. The square stage of the cheerleading competition where dozens of teenage girls are constantly having to trust each other to perform tough acrobatic tricks was an obvious one. There are also questions that still remain unanswered for me. I wonder the significance of the ape performing arts scene as well as a random starring of a chimpanzee in his one night stand's house. Is the message that we're all apes originally and the prejudice is non-sense? Or is there something about accepting what is norm? Did the little boy end up dying on the stairs or did he actually move away?

Overall the movie was deeply poetic, thoughtful and almost political. I could watch it again and try to put the pieces together, and may have more intelligent things to say. (this time all me, without a boyfriend).