A Magnolia Pictures release, The Square, a film by Ruben Östlund, is a gripping sociological suspense story that dives into the ethics of moral responsibility, privilege, and media sensationalism. 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 exhibition, “The Square,” is an installation that invites passersby to perform altruistic deeds. But sometimes it’s difficult to live up to your own ideals: When Christian’s phone is stolen, his foolish response to the crime drags him into an embarrassing situation, and when a PR campaign by the museum elicits an overblown reaction from the public, “The Square” sends Christian into an existential crisis.
Join us afterward for a presentation by the director, Ruben Östlund, who will be conducting a Q&A on the film. Our thanks to Magnolia Pictures and The Consulate General of Sweden in New York for making this screening possible.
The Square has received numerous distinctions since its premiere, as the Palme D’Or Winner at the Cannes Film Festival, 2017, winner of Best European Film and five other awards at the 2017 European Film Awards, and this year’s Swedish Foreign Language Film candidate for the 2018 Oscars. It has also been featured at the Toronto International Film Festival, 2017; Fantastic Fest, 2017; and New York Film Festival, 2017.
“Ruben Östlund’s sprawling and daringly surreal satire The Square turns a contemporary art museum into a city-state of bizarre, dysfunctional and Ballardian strangeness… It sets out to make your jaw drop. And it succeeds.” —Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
“[Östlund] creates suspense in a new-fangled way, turning the space between people into an alarming existential battleground.” —Owen Gleiberman, Variety
About the Director
Ruben Östlund was born in 1974 in Styrsö, a small island on the West Coast of Sweden. He studied graphic design before enrolling at the University of Gothenburg, where he met Erik Hemmendorff, with whom he later founded Plattform Produktion. His feature debut The Guitar Mongoloid won the FIPRESCI Award in Moscow in 2005 and was followed by his films Involuntary, 2008; Incident By a Bank, 2010, a short film in which every camera movement was computer generated in post-production, and a Golden Bear winner in Berlin; and Play, 2011, which won multiple awards and distinctions, including nomination for the LUX prize of the European Parliament and winner of the Nordic Prize, the highest distinction in Scandinavia.
His fourth feature film, Force Majeure, premiered at Un Certain Regard in Cannes, where it was awarded the Jury Prize. The film was selected in countless festivals and won 16 Best Foreign film awards, and was also nominated at the Golden Globes and shortlisted for an Oscar®. The film has been distributed in over 70 countries.
The Square is the fourth of Östlund’s films to premiere in Cannes and his first feature to be selected to win the Palme d’Or.
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Elisabeth Moss in The Square, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
THU—10-26—6:30 PM
$12 ($7 ASF Members)
145 minutes. In Swedish, English, and Danish with English subtitles.