Ruben Östlund is Watching Us

Ruben Östlund's film The Square was recommended by a friend.

She described the director as a kind of ‘Swedish Noah Baumbach’.

Hmmm.

After watching The Square (and another of his films, Triangle of Sadness) I can see the connection. There is a little darkness in the satire, but it comes dressed very nicely. And is carefully observed.

The Square is about a lot of things, but the central tension is between the questionable behavior of a handsome, smug curator at a contemporary art museum in Stockholm, and the high morals espoused by a signature work that he has commissioned and is presenting to the public.

This curator, and the people around him, are tragic characters - trying to maintain the appearance of composure while things are falling apart for them. They live in a complicated world of high highs and low lows.

In an interview at Cannes, Östlund said "I'm interested in creating dilemmas for the characters in my films ... situations where there are two or more opportunities, and none of them are easy."

The Square is recommendable, and I won't summarize it much further here. Please watch it.

One thing the film is NOT about, but touches in a way that hits close to home, is marketing.

In this case, social media marketing.

A scene set in the business office of the fictional art museum, brings in two young social marketing consultants whose lines and behavior seem to cover every trope in the playbook.

They recommend a viral Youtube video that will "cut through the clutter" - which it does later in a hilarious and uncomfortable way.

As they deliver the pitch for the video, I felt myself tensing up physically, reminded of how many times I'd seen this movie in real life.

It is this hyper-realism that makes Östlund's films so good.

He is watching contemporary culture very closely, making us watch back. And want more.

A few links here ...

The social marketing “viral video” scene / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e42OIHmMr9Q

A list of art world “embarrassments” in the film / https://www.artspace.com/magazine/art_101/close_look/8-times-ruben-ostlunds-the-square-accurately-portrayed-the-art-world-and-embarrassed-us-all-55102

Some background on director Ruben Östlund / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruben_Östlund