The Square will be the first Swedish film in official competition in 17 years. 

The announcement came last night from the world’s most prestigious film festival celebrating this year its 70th anniversary from May 17-28.

The Square is the only international film added to the competition slot containing already 18 titles from top directors such as Todd Haynes, François Ozon, Michael Haneke and Yorgos Lanthimos. Last time Sweden was running for the Palme d’or was in 2000 with Roy Andersson’s Songs from the Second Floor (2000) and Liv Ullmann’s Faithless. 

The film produced by Erik Hemmendorff of Plattform Production was supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond. “Yet another year for a Nordic auteur at the Cannes Film Festival - my congratulations! said the Fund’s CEO Petri Kemppinen. “Ruben Östlund has again created a new universe for us, where landscape of a human mind proves not to be what it first feels like."  

Östlund said: “The actual reason why we had to wait so long for an answer [from Cannes organisers] was because we handed in the film so late. But, wow, how exciting with a gala premiere at the Lumière Cinema. There are scenes in The Square that are created specifically for that screening, with a smoking-clad audience. I won’t say anymore, you will understand.”

The 43 year-old director is a Cannes habitué, as two of his films were selected at Un Certain Regard - Involuntary in 2008, and Force Majeure that won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in 2014 - while Play screened at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2011. 

Like his previous works, the film is a darkly humorous and thought-provoking social satire. The idea for the film came to Östlund while he was making his observation on bullying in the film Play. “The Square can be interpreted as an allegory of how society works today. It seems that we’re getting more and more individualistic and we tend to see other adults as a potential threat. Overall, we’re less inclined to feel responsible for one another,” he said.

Christian (played by Danish actor Claes Bang) is the successful curator of a modern art museum. A few days before the opening of the prestigious exhibition The Square he is mugged, an experience that he can’t shake off. He embarks on a hunt for the perpetrator and ends up in situations that turn steadily more amusing, and make him question his own moral compass. Simultaneously he has to deal with the museum’s ruthless PR agency, hred to create buzz around the installation, but things get out of hand. 

Key cast members also include Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Dominic West (The Affair) and Christopher Læssø (Darkland).

The Square is produced by Plattform in co-production with Parisienne de Production in France, Essential Film in Germany, Coproduction Office ApS and Katja Adomeit in Denmark, Film i Väst, SVT, YLE, DR, ZDF/Arte France, with support from the Swedish Film Institute, Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Eurimages and Medienboard Berlin-Brandeburg.

The Coproduction Office that handles world sales has pre-sold the film to several world distributors including Magnolia Pictures in the US and Alamode in Germany. The Swedish theatrical release handled by TriArt is scheduled for August 25.