Butler's Cinema Scene

Claes Bang

“THE SQUARE” My rating: B 

145 minutes | MPAA rating: R

“The Square” is the equivalent of one of those modern art installations where you wonder if the “artist” isn’t pulling everybody’s chain.

The winner of the  Palm d’Or at Cannes, this comedy from writer/director Ruben Ostend is so dry and droll that it’s often hard to know if we’re actually meant to laugh.

Our “hero” is Christian (Claes Bang), the director of a contemporary art museum in Stockholm that features shows with titles like “Mirrors and Piles of Gravel.” Prominent in the fiftyish Christian’s skill set is an ability to explain far-out conceptual art to the old rich folk who keep the museum afloat. He’s pretty good at schmoozing and coming up with deep intellectual underpinnings for the goofy displays his institution embraces.

The film follows Christian over several days during which he’s dealing with a new installation. “The Square” is just that…an illuminated square set in the cobblestones of the plaza in front of the museum. A plaque embedded in the courtyard describes the square as “a sanctuary of trust and caring”; it’s meant to be a place where the city’s homeless (and Stockholm apparently has an unlimited supply) can take shelter and interact with their more privileged brethren.

This project is more idealistic than realistic…most of the homeless people we encounter are surly and demanding and in their own way as entitled as Christian’s wealthy patrons.

There’s no real plot here, just a series of abusrdism-soaked vignettes depicting Christian’s professional and private life.

Terry Notary in ape mode

He undergoes an uneasy interview with a reporter (Elisabeth Moss) with whom he later has a one-night stand. Inexplicably, the woman keeps a large ape in her apartment (Christian notices the beast but doesn’t comment, less it derail the foreplay);  the encounter ends in a tug-of-war over a used condom.

A fatuous Q&A session with a visiting artist (Dominic West) is upended by a Tourette’s sufferer who keeps calling out “Cock! Goddammit!  Show us your boobs!”  The crowd is divided over whether to throw him out or celebrate his diversity.

Christian’s wallet and cell phone are lifted on the street; using a computer program he tracks the phone to a low-income apartment building.  Unable to pinpoint the criminal’s apartment, he slips threatening letters into the mailboxes of all the residents. Later he will be stalked by an angry 10-year-old whose parents now think he’s a thief.

A couple of hotshot young marketing dudes come up with an extraordinarily ill-advised video campaign for The Square. It involves a pretty blonde waif and a kitten who are blown to bits.  The video goes out without Christian’s oversight and creates a media firestorm. There is one upside — an imam, priest and rabbi who usually are mortal enemies join forces in opposition to the museum.

At a black-tie fundraiser a shirtless performance artist (Terry Notary, who played the title character in “Kong: Skull Island”) impersonates a swaggering silverback gorilla. He’s so into character that he terrorizes the guests, attempting sex with one young lady before the audience members turn on him violently.

Throughout Ostlund offers stark comparisons between the posh world of the well-to-do and the bleak lives of bums and beggars. How does a museum gallery filled with tiny piles of gravel have any bearing on real-world issues?

“The Square” is well acted, sometimes shocking and now and then laugh-out-loud funny.

But did it really have to be 2 1/2 hours long?

| Robert W. Butler