Film

The Square

Name: The Square
Genre: Drama
Released: 2017
Cast: Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West, Terry Notary, Christopher Læssø

A satire of the contemporary art world in which a suave, media-savvy curator's careful liberal image collapses under a slow accumulation of small, absurd humiliations. Östlund stages long, excruciating set-pieces of manners, cowardice and performance that build into something equal parts art-world takedown and genuine question about complicity. Funny, uncomfortable, occasionally shocking, and never quite letting you off the hook.

TMDb rating

6.7

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Triangle of Sadness2022

Östlund's follow-up turns the same scalpel on the mega-rich aboard a luxury yacht, escalating the discomfort into outright chaos and one of the most notorious set-pieces in recent cinema.

But Even broader and grosser than The Square—if the vomit-soaked centrepiece already sounds like too much, it will be.

Force Majeure2014

Östlund's earlier study of masculine cowardice, where one father's instinctive flinch during an avalanche unravels his entire self-image over a slow, mortifying week.

But Quieter and more domestic than The Square—less spectacle, more marital autopsy.

Parasite2019

Bong Joon-ho's class satire shares the same delight in watching polished people reveal how thin their civility really is, tightened into a genre thriller.

But More plot-driven and twisty than Östlund's loose, essayistic structure—different pleasures entirely.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Rules of the Game1939

Both use a lavish gathering among the privileged as a stage where good manners become moral evasion, and both let one supposedly minor transgression detonate everything underneath.

Renoir's country-house comedy of manners watches the French elite perform civility while their marriages and class contempt quietly rot underneath, a satire that still stings nearly a century later.

But Black-and-white, 1939, and paced like theatre—it asks for patience The Square's momentum doesn't require.

American Psycho2000

A satire of status anxiety and performed identity among the wealthy, sharing the same cold, deadpan comic register and a protagonist whose surface is all he has.

But Its violence is far more literal and stylised—satire with blood, not just embarrassment.

The Menu2022

Skewers rarefied taste and self-important artistry through an evening that curdles from pretension into menace, with the same pleasure in watching cultured people squirm.

But Tighter and pulpier—a thriller with a satire's aftertaste, rather than the other way round.

Toni Erdmann2016no page yet

A German father's elaborate, cringe-inducing pranks expose the hollowness of his daughter's corporate life, sustaining an hour of pure, escalating awkwardness fans of The Square will recognise instantly.

But Longer and stranger, with almost no plot momentum—patience required.

Nightcrawler2014

A study of moral compromise and self-invention in a cold, alienating urban world, sharing The Square's interest in a man performing decency while doing something else entirely.

But Far more thriller than comedy—the discomfort here is dread, not embarrassment.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)2014

Another portrait of a creative ego in freefall, staged with the same appetite for theatrical, unbroken discomfort and a protagonist unravelling in public.

But Its manic, technically show-off style is a world away from Östlund's cool, static compositions.

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) poster

In Bruges2008

Guilt, moral reckoning and pitch-black comedy collide in a film that, like The Square, keeps finding laughs in exactly the moments you feel you shouldn't.

But Genre trappings—hitmen, dwarves, farce—pull it somewhere much pulpier than Östlund's arthouse register.

Exit Through the Gift Shop2010

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A documentary, or elaborate prank, about street art, authenticity and hype that ends up being its own con on the art world—asking who really gets to decide what's meaningful.

But No narrative arc to hold onto—it's an essay-prank, not a drama, and some find its trickery smug.

Get Out2017

Both dissect a class whose progressive self-image masks contempt and cowardice, and both use a single act of cruelty toward someone beneath them as the mechanism that exposes it.

Jordan Peele takes the same target—well-meaning liberal hypocrisy performed as virtue—and runs it through horror, turning polite condescension into something genuinely frightening.

But It wants to scare you as much as indict you; if you came for slow-burn discomfort rather than dread, it plays differently.