The plot of the film "Square" (also known as "Liberty Square"), which won the 2017 Cannes Palme d’Or Award, is a prose structure. It is not the kind of genre film that uses plot points to push the story forward, but uses the protagonist. The messy life experience is a timeline. Of course, good prose is scattered but not scattered. Finding the "god" hidden in the story will also unlock the core of the movie.
I think the core of this movie is a "box", not the one made in the art museum, but a box hidden somewhere else.
Finding it is like doing that kind of decryption game. It takes a little patience. Let's look at the play piece by piece below. Of course, the process of searching and deciphering is purely my own subjective conjecture, and may be far from the director's own intentions. But I think this is not important. The important thing is that I have enjoyed the infinite pleasure of watching movies during this process of thinking. Share with you here.
1. Opening scene: black screen subtitles + electronic heavy music
What a strong narrative black screen! The director really does not waste time at all! What's the story? Just look at the picture behind: The person lying on the sofa in a panic hasn't woken up yet, and his ears are still ringing in his ears! I must have overwhelmed Happy last night.
Looking further down, there is a strong contrast:
2. Interview
Now we know that the man sleeping on the sofa who stayed up late just now is the curator of the art gallery! Don't tell me, put him under the lighting in the exhibition hall, tidy up his hair, put on his eyes, he is really a curator's fan!
During the interview, the curator himself made an example: For example, put your (referring to the interviewer) bag in the exhibition hall, does it become a work of art? Haha, what a clever setting, isn't the curator just that bag!
In addition, there are many things hidden in this scene: look carefully at the dress and state of the female reporter: her hair is messy, her necklace hangs on her cleavage, the interview documents are spilled all over the floor, and she must have not rested;
There is also the second question she asked: the night talk event, which aims to explore the impetus contained in exhibitability...what is this " night talk event "? Ha, presumably the electronic heavy music and shouts at the beginning have given us first clues. If it's not enough, don't worry, there will be more later scenes!
3. Withdrawal of bronze statues and exhibits (The Square)
The box appears for the first time. Of course, people who saw it the first time may not see it, because they are all partial pictures, and the "square" exhibits are still under construction. Fortunately, it is followed by the title of the opening movie: The Square
4. The incident of losing a mobile phone in the square
It's nothing to say that this drama is a hackneyed theft scam. But some of the side scenes are quite cheesy: First, the state of the curator interacting with the other person after saving the person: the two even gave a high-five to celebrate. This is how to save people, this is a game.
Secondly, why did they participate in this game (you know that they didn't pay attention to beggars on the side of the road before!) It all depends on the "HELP" being shouted out. I vaguely thought of the words on the exhibits of the previous scene: In the square is the sanctuary of love and trust. Within its boundaries, we share equal rights and obligations . Help is like a foot, stepping into the "square".
Note: At this ten minutes, that sentence has appeared twice! (It will be repeated later)
This "lost mobile phone" drama seems to have put the plot into a genre film mode, and it has indeed played a traction role for the audience. But is the director's purpose only here? Of course not, otherwise this film will not impress the Cannes jury! Look down——
5. Two groups of visitors
One group went to the castle (how many Chinese, did you hear it), and a group went to the exhibition hall. Note that the voice of "savages" was heard outside the painting in the first group of wayfinding.
6. Promotion meeting
The skill of the director of this play is extremely clever! Where is Gao, listen to me——
I passively divided this scene into two parts. One is the part where the young people of the advertising agency are talking (this part is completely distracted by me), and the other is the part where other people are talking (fortunately, I am not distracted. ).
Why did this scene have such an effect on me, when I looked back the second time, I realized: It turned out that it was the baby's ghost! Note that what the advertising agency people are saying is about "attracting eyeballs", and it was precisely when they were talking about this that the baby robbed the scene.
As soon as the ad agency stopped talking, the bearded old man immediately blocked the baby as he spoke. Yes, this is enough to prove the director's ironic purpose! This kind of irony accompanied by the two young people of the advertising promotion company followed!
In addition, as for our curator, I believe that many viewers, like him, are absent-minded, thinking about their stolen cell phone! That's right, the other distracting effect of the previous "mobile phone stealing" was fermented! Finally, at the end of the propaganda meeting, the curator couldn't hold back anymore and told everyone about it.
7. Track cell phones and send threat letters
The whole process of this scene is very strange, you will find that the stolen does not have any anger or sad emotions. On the contrary, they are very excited during the whole process of tracking their mobile phones and sending threatening letters. They are simply enjoying the process after being stolen.
They didn't start to worry until the curator's own car was scratched. It can be seen that losing a mobile phone is not painful for an upper-class art museum curator at all. Mobile phones and wallets have completely different meanings to the stolen and stealing.
There is a small detail. After the curator went home, he took a bath and found the button he had lost, which he claimed was left by his father. However, those threatening letters have already been sent.
8. The curator's speech
In the process of tracking mobile phones and sending letters, the movie also inserted such a scene: a lecture by the curator. It makes people think that they are all intellectuals and middle-class elites. The content of the talk is probably the concept of their box, and the people present listened with gusto. After the speech, remember that there was another head chef to introduce the dinner dishes to everyone. During the introduction of the head chef, people began to leave the table...
A strong contrast is formed before and after. Where is the difference: one is the curator and the other is the chef. The curator has been elevated in this art museum. It is a pity that the chef is not so lucky. Even if he is standing in this area, his identity is still a cook.
9. The curator and the beggar
The curator walked through the block full of beggars and came to the fast food restaurant. While asking if there was a package, he reluctantly bought a hamburger for the beggar and left.
What I saw in this scene: to be honest, there is no sympathy, no tenderness, and no compassion. There are only contradictions. What kind of contradiction, the contradiction between the rich and the poor. From the expression and dialogue between the beggar and the curator.
10. Artist's speech scene
There was an episode before the speech: a visitor wanted to take photos of the artwork, but was stopped by the administrator. (Is this a foreshadowing of the scene where the cleaner mistakenly swept the artwork away?)
The artist's speech was completely robbed of the limelight by a person with "Tic Rattle Syndrome". It was embarrassing, and the person who had the attack was also quite annoying.
So, besides this patient's influence on the lecture, what else is there? The following text has its own answer.
11. The curator receives a stolen package
Naturally, those threatening letters worked. The curator received the lost cell phone and wallet, and when he was excited, he gave all the money in the wallet to the beggar. That's right, this proves once again that the curator is not bad at money! Whether he will reach out to the poor depends entirely on whether he is happy. Of course he will not be responsible for the dozens of threatening letters he sent.
12. Art Museum Night (night talk activity)
If you haven't had enough music addiction at the beginning, you can manage it this time! There are also pictures. That's right, this is the "night talk activity" of other upper-class society: dancing, watching mobile phones, picking up girls... (is it similar to the scenes in "Beautiful City", "Sweet Life", and "Night").
The curator's affair with a female American journalist came about during this "night talk event." The irony is that the catalyst that the two hooked up turned out to be to imitate the action language of the patient with "Ticting syndrome". Yes, for a patient who is said to be tortured, his only value to these elites is this.
13, make love
This sex scene is very strange: one is that there is a gorilla by the side; the other is the expression of the female reporter when having sex (especially the expression of the female reporter); the third is that they grab a condom full of sperm after having sex. These three points made me really unable to find North at first, and I don't know what the director wanted to say!
After the second look, I found some subtle things: the expressions and movements of the female reporter when making love, wouldn't it be like a gorilla! Let's look at what the gorilla did: reading magazines and scribbling lipstick (after the scene). Could it be possible that the director used the gorilla to hint at the female reporter behind it? The two men grabbed the condom afterwards and understood it better, which revealed a problem: the curator did not trust the female reporter at all!
14. Promotion meeting
The two young people from the advertising company in the elevator before the meeting are very interesting: one is thinking about not tying his hair, the other is thinking about who wins and who loses with punches. It is estimated that the one who has to perform the kid’s bombing plan loses. .
Can you imagine that the promotion of a great artwork is made by this kind of person (It's interesting, I think the person who is best at using this kind of irony is Woody Allen.) You know, it is often a click. 10w+ posts came out in the hands of these people. As for our curator, his mind is no longer here, so the video promotion plan is over!
15. Children make a big fuss at a fast food restaurant
The threatening letter is not over. Another kid came to the door, and he was wronged by his parents because of this threatening letter! It can be seen from this scene that the curator's subordinate, the young man who put forward the idea of sending a threat letter, was completely in a blaming attitude when he encountered trouble afterwards. Fortunately, he was dealing with a child (you know that he didn't dare to put a fart when he was rowing a car).
As for why the director chooses a child here, and the child’s anger and performance are so grown-up, naturally there is the director’s symbolic intention. What does it symbolize? It's known by (23) scenes.
16. Curator and female reporter
After the two had a one-night stand, the female reporter came to the door again. Before the confrontation between the two, there was an episode: the artwork made of piles of sand was accidentally swept by the cleaner! This is terrible, the assistant almost called the insurance company. Haha, I don’t know why I want to laugh. I remembered a news in China a few years ago: a certain lady accidentally broke a piece of jewelry worth millions of dollars in a jewelry shop...
The curator was steady and asked the assistant to scatter the sand back in the original photo. The curator’s behavior proved: Isn’t that just a pile of sand? It’s not a big deal! Art is not sacred to him, of course, they treat love and sex in the same way. Okay, here is the long talk between the female reporter and the curator...
17. Reading letters at the curator's home, fighting with her daughter
The curator read the reply from the kid who made a noise in the fast food restaurant. The curator's first reaction was to laugh.
Why laugh? Because it was a threatening letter from a child. Can you imagine that the font should be the same as that of a primary school student. I would laugh if I changed it. But if you can think of the plot when the curator wrote the threatening letter, it is another smile: the curator has also modified the computer font because the computer font is too childish.
This irony is buried far away. The battle between the curator and the children, the battle between the rich and the poor, and the battle between the upper class and the lower class are all deduced in this exchange of threatening letters. Is there a funny sense of dumbfounding! The two daughters of the curator came back immediately afterwards. Pay attention, they came back arguing. The father tried his best to pull the two girls away, persuading, educating, and comforting them...
Since then, the curator's attitude towards the little boy and his two daughters have formed a sharp contrast (the former urges the blame, the latter is responsible). I think the square theme of this movie is beginning to show up slowly.
18. The House of Trust (The Square)
We saw the artwork in the art museum again, and heard the sentence again: In the square is the sanctuary of care and trust. Within its boundaries, we share equal rights and obligations . That's right, the curator's daughter was lucky enough to stand inside this box, while the little boy and the class he represented were outside the box drawn by the curator.
This scene is a turning point, what turning point, the turning point of the curator's (male protagonist) ideological reflection (or the turning point when he started to try to trust others).
19. Answer calls from advertisers and ask for help from beggars
I received the call from the advertiser to inform us that the number of clicks on the promotion video was 300,000, which provided a foreshadowing for the following. Asking a beggar for help confirms the change in thinking of the curator above: he is beginning to try to trust the people outside the box he has drawn.
At this point, the curator's box theory is about to collapse!
20. Promotional videos, employee conversations, high-level conversations in art galleries
This promotional video could not be better used to explain modern media: purposelessness, use of disadvantaged groups, eye-catching, violence...
Take a look at the advertising companies, public relations planning companies, self-media, e-commerce companies around us... which is not the case! Okay, after watching the video, I'm here to see the reactions of the employees. I was happy, why, because they never thought about taking responsibility! They even have a strong immunity to being scolded.
And the curator and board of directors of our art museum have a headache!
21. Savage show
This scene is the most exciting of the whole movie, and it is also the most uncomfortable and embarrassing scene. Why, because the director put the artwork in reality. Just imagine:
If a statue of an ancient Greek figure is placed on the square, even if the statue is naked with exaggerated genitals, visitors will look at it with artistic eyes and care for it with elegant demeanor. But what if a real person stood naked in the public? The consequences would be unimaginable.
What's more, here the director threw a savage man at the banquets of celebrities and high-ranking officials. Finally, the bottom line of those literati scholars was pierced, and even the curator couldn't stand it!
22. The little boy makes a fuss at the curator's house
As soon as the savage had finished the banquet, the little boy came to the curator's apartment. This time it is not an experiment of art, it is a real contradiction in life.
These two scenes made me feel deeply: Does art have practical significance and social value? Can we still dare to believe the kindness, benevolence, and fraternity of the artists and works of art that have been put on the stage. This is vividly reflected in the curator's stairway. In other words, there is one set on stage and another set off stage. What value is there in this kind of art?
I am thinking about these issues, and I think the curator in the play is also struggling with contradictions.
It was approaching, after he sent the little boy away, he repeatedly heard "help me" from nowhere at home...Finally, he appeared in the empty scene before.
23. Picking up trash tapes and recording mobile phone videos
The curator rushed out of his house, caught in the rain, and climbed over the railing to the garbage dump.
That's right, he jumped out of the "box" that protects him, and what is outside this box in life: poverty, danger, low-level people, refugees...
Rather than saying that the subsequent mobile phone video recording is for boys, it is better to say that he is confessing to the socially disadvantaged groups represented by the boys and clarifying the director's point of view (I think the little boys represent the socially disadvantaged groups):
I am too selfish. I don’t care. I am preconceived... In fact, I am afraid of the residents in that building, afraid of those who live in that building like you in my impression. Those negative ideas have affected me and also affected me. The consistent view of society. Because I can be pretty sure that I am not the only one who thinks this way. And I think you also have preconceived prejudices against us, perhaps because our lives are so different, and political conflicts will arise at a certain point of outbreak. You see, these problems cannot be solved by individuals, and this requires the help of the entire society. I admit that I was wrong and apologize to you in the video, but you also have to realize that this is actually a macroscopic and structural social problem. I know that about 1 in 291 people in society owns more than half of the world’s wealth, and it is easy for individuals to have imbalances...
The curator’s words were interrupted by another scene. It was a female reporter and a gorilla. Unfortunately, the female reporter couldn't get through. Does this count as the curator stepping out of the box?
24. Press Conference
This press conference is so interesting! In the first half, everyone condemned the propaganda behavior of the art museum and the negligence of the curator. But somehow, after a statement, suddenly everyone's focus shifted and shifted to the next exhibition project of the art museum.
It's a dramatic change, but think about it carefully. Isn't that the way it is in reality? In the past 2017, there have been many killings in China: Jiang Ge case, red, yellow and blue... But there are several social hot spots that lasted more than a week. This is probably the media and public opinion. It's the art museum and the artist that have been a blessing in disguise.
25. Read magazines at home
I basically didn't understand this paragraph (the magazine and the tape recorder report were not subtitled), but it seemed to vaguely feel that the "square" exhibit was on fire.
26. Children's collective dance scene
What is the meaning of this paragraph, the first time I saw it, it was totally inexplicable, I don't know why. The second time it came to nothing: It was a big "box", I didn't see it!
The sentence repeatedly mentioned in the movie (the square is the sanctuary of love and trust, within its boundaries, we share equal rights and obligations) finally manifested in life: children flock to the box, Show yourself to your heart's content. The four coaches are protecting them. No one in the box will get hurt (Is there a feeling of "Rye Catcher").
So far, I found the "box" of this movie.
27, find a little boy
The curator walked out of his box again, this time with the two children. They went to that building. Another new box appeared, did you see it? !
The three people rotate upwards around the bottom box as the center of the circle, accompanied by the theme music; the bottom box is getting farther and farther, and the upper box is set more and more. (I'm almost fainted)
Looking at the movie "Square", you will find that the director has highlighted two opposites in structure from beginning to end: art and real life. It is a pity that we can often see the conceptualized "art boxes" at a glance, but it is difficult for us to see the boxes in life.
In the end of the movie, the curator and two daughters retired without success, leaving behind the unsolved social problem. Yes, as the protagonist said: These problems cannot be solved by individuals, and this requires the help of the entire society.
Written by: Taixu Palace
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