The Square Page #4

Synopsis: Christian is the respected curator of a contemporary art museum, a divorced but devoted father of two who drives an electric car and supports good causes. His next show is "The Square", an installation which invites passersby to altruism, reminding them of their role as responsible fellow human beings. But sometimes, it is difficult to live up to your own ideals: Christian's foolish response to the theft of his phone drags him into shameful situations. Meanwhile, the museum's PR agency has created an unexpected campaign for "The Square". The response is overblown and sends Christian, as well as the museum, into an existential crisis.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director(s): Ruben Östlund
Production: Magnolia Pictures
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 27 wins & 36 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.3
Metacritic:
73
Rotten Tomatoes:
84%
R
Year:
2017
151 min
$1,284,672
Website
5,448 Views


That's part of our risk anaIysis,

to prepare for any externaI concerns.

The same concerns I sense here.

We can handIe them.

Don't make me angry!

Don't act stupid!

I don't know

what you're taIking about.

-It says ''Christian'' here. And there.

-Yes, but...

-Oh. Are you Christian?

-No, he's my boss.

-Your boss? Where's your stupid boss?

-Listen...

-Where's your stupid boss?

-Lower your voice.

I've got nothing to do

with aII this...

-I want his phone number.

-You can't have it.

Why not? Look what he did to me,

I need to taIk to him.

I'm reaIIy sorry,

we made a mistake.

What? Why did you write this?

My parents think I'm a thief.

They won't Iet me pIay baII,

or anything! AII thanks to you!

-Hey, Iisten...

-You put this in my Ietterbox.

It wasn't me, it was my boss.

No, you did this!

You're Iying. You're Christian.

-He's Iying to me!

-CaIm down.

Look what he put in our Ietterbox!

Now my parents think

I'm a thief.

-My boss was robbed...

-AII I get to do is stay home and rot

They took his phone

and his waIIet...

So, he put a note

in aII the Ietterboxes.

-What are you Iaughing at?

-WeII, it's...

-You bastard! Shut up.

-ChiII...

-You can't fight in here.

-Look at what he wrote.

Don't I have the right

to be angry?

I don't know who's right here.

He's pretending

to have a boss caIIed Christian.

And he's pretending that

he can't understand my Swedish...

TransIate, so the idiot understands.

Stop caIIing me an idiot.

-Give me his number!

-Shh! CaIm down!

-Hey, where are you going?

-Hey! What are you doing?

What's wrong with you?

What do you expect me to do?

I didn't do this!

What the heII are you doing?

I'm sorry, but...

-This is not a good time.

-It's an emergency.

-What?

-Excuse me. Sorry.

-AII right...

One of the cIeaners managed

to sweep up

parts of the Gijoni exhibit.

-The piIes don't Iook the same.

-Are you puIIing my Ieg?

Are the piIes gone?

No, but they don't Iook the same.

And we found a bag fuII of graveI.

So, I'II caII the insurance company.

No, no! No, don't do that.

Where's the graveI?

The graveI that was swept away?

In a bag? Great.

And we have photos, don't we?

Um-hm.

Meet me downstairs in 5 minutes,

with the photos and the graveI,

and we'II fix it.

Without teIIing anyone at aII.

She doesn't understand a thing,

she's American.

Are you serious?

We're going to fix the piIes?

Sure, it wiII be fine. Hm?

We'II sort it out.

''You accused me of being a thief.

You wiII apoIogize to me

and my famiIy,

or I wiII make chaos with you.''

-Daddy!

-Why didn't you open the door?

And why didn't you pick us up!

It wasn't my turn to do it.

-We had to caII Mummy!

-She didn't teII me...

-Go inside, you idiot!

-Stop it!

No... What's going on here?

What's wrong?

Don't fight Iike that...

What's wrong with you?

-You twerp!

-I hate you!

-Let go!

-Stop it!

Hey, hey...!

What are you doing?

No, go to your room.

What's the matter, Lise? No!

LiIIy? What have I said

about sIamming doors?

What have I said about that?

What have I said

about sIamming doors?

We've taIked about this.

What's wrong with you two?

Lise? You're the eIdest...

What's aII this?

HeIIo?

Why are you fighting Iike this?

What's the matter?

-I'm sorry, Daddy.

-No, it was my fauIt.

I raised my voice. I shouIdn't have

shouted Iike that.

I'm sorry. Forgive me.

Do you want to wait here

whiIe I go get Lise? AII right?

WeIcome! I'm deIighted

to see such a crowd.

Here are sets for our new exhibition,

one that is very promising indeed.

To enter, you have to decide

whether you trust other peopIe,

or that you don't, you mistrust them.

This is done by pressing

the appropriate button.

You're weIcome to do that now.

Excited?

Let's see what happens next.

-ShouId we?

-What do you think?

-That's what it says.

-So, shouIdn't we?

-Here?

-Mm-hm.

Is that okay?

Does it feeI strange?

Yes.

It'II be interesting to see

if they're stiII there

when we get back.

This reminds me of something

your grandpa toId me.

He was a boy, about 6 years oId.

And he was about to go out

and pIay...

His parents made him a tag and wrote

his name and address on it.

They hung it around his neck

and sent him off to pIay

aII by himseIf

in the middIe of Copenhagen.

Imagine if I had done that

to you when you were six.

That never wouId have happened.

Attitudes change...

Back then,

peopIe trusted other grownups,

to heIp their chiIdren if they had

probIems or had Iost their way.

But nowadays, you tend to regard

other aduIts as potentiaI threats.

-Do you understand?

-What's that got to do with this?

Everything. Read this again

and you'II understand.

Read it again. Out Ioud.

''The Square is a sanctuary

of trust and caring.

Within it, we aII share

equaI rights and obIigations.''

I don't have any cash.

Sorry, I don't have any cash.

I don't have any cash.

HeIIo?

Hello, l'm Pauline

from YouTube Sweden.

-Oh, heIIo...

-Congratulations to 300k.

-Excuse me?

-Congratulations to 300,000 clicks.

-300,000 views?

- That's right.

Your video has seen a lot of traffic

in just a few hours.

ReaIIy? WeII, that's nice.

I presume you're referring

to our artist taIk.

No, it's ''Blonde Child Beggar

Gets Blown lnto Pieces''.

The reason l'm calling is to ask

if you are interested in any ads,

thereby sharing partner revenue.

-Hello?

-I need to get my head around this...

We have a cIip-on YouTube

that features kids being bIown up?

l haven't seen

the clip myself...

l don't work with content.

No, of course not.

Listen, can I caII you back

in ten minutes

when I know more about this?

-Sure.

-I'II do that. Great. Bye.

This so can't be happening.

UnbeIievabIe...

Excuse me, couId you heIp me?

No?

-CouId you give me a hand?

-Sorry...

-WeII,

-He's here.

at Ieast we got peopIe taIking.

...have produced this

video with taxpayers' money...

HeIIo...

Hi, EIna.

And the other thing they do,

that they are clueless about,

is to attack one of Sweden's

most vulnerable groups,

the beggars.

People who sit day

and night outside shops.

A video like this is pissing

them straight in the face.

What's really sick is that

my 6-year-old daughter...

-CouId you turn that off?

-...sees body parts flying...

Who's that idiot?

EIna, this is an opportunity

to take a stand.

We, as a museum, mustn't

be afraid to push boundaries.

To transcend aII kinds of taboos.

Nothing shouId stand in the way

of freedom of expression.

That's my conviction.

It's something to stand up for.

Without a doubt.

BabyBjrn...

Do you think they'II want

to donate money to this museum?

You do reaIize

that I didn't have anything

to do with this video?

-I didn't make it...

-That's totaIIy irreIevant.

ReaIIy.

I have a board meeting to attend.

And I want to make sure

that you wiII compIy

with any decisions we make.

WeII, that depends

on what we're taIking about.

That wouId be decisions reIated

to the consequences of aII this.

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Ruben Östlund

Claes Olle Ruben Östlund (born 13 April 1974) is a Swedish film director and screenwriter. His films Force Majeure (2014) and The Square (2017) were both critically acclaimed and won awards at the Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d'Or for the latter. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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