Ranking the movies of Ruben Östlund from worst to best
The Swedish filmmaking maestro Ruben Östlund has become something of a phenomenon in recent years, becoming one of few directors to win multiple Palme d’Or awards at the Cannes Film Festival, joining a club that only includes Ken Loach, Michael Haneke and Francis Ford Coppola. Heading up the resurgence of European cinema that is also seeing the blossoming of minds such as Yorgos Lanthimos and Julia Ducournau, Östlund is an inspirational talent.
For the Swede, there is no subject more interesting in cinema than the study of the human mind, with the director eternally interested in probing the careful layers of the human psyche and the expectations of modern society. Such is consistent throughout his entire filmography, which stretches back to the start of the new century, releasing The Guitar Mongoloid in 2004 after a string of skiing short films.
Consistently focusing on fragile, lost characters on the brink of a personal meltdown, the cinema of Östlund squirms with 21st-century angst. Pinpointing how an individual’s personality and morality can be questioned by outside influences, such as how the protagonist’s pride is pulled into focus in 2014’s Force Majeure or how 2011’s Play sees characters moulded by the very actions of their peers, Östlund’s perception is eerily accurate.
As one of the most exciting filmmakers of contemporary cinema, each new film from Östlund is welcomed with open arms. Indeed, the playful Swedish creative has never made a bad movie.
Ranking the movies of Ruben Östlund from worst to best
6. The Guitar Mongoloid (2004)
The first of Östlund’s films is a sounding board for his later career, featuring many of his hallmarks, including detached cinematography that lingers on subjects as if they were a still life image. His debut is an anthology film that follows everyday life in Sweden through the perspective of a 12-year-old boy making punk songs, grown adults playing with guns and a self-destructive middle-aged woman.
Touching and humorous, The Guitar Mongoloid is a fun, is the barebones version of Östlund at his very best. After all, the film is very similar to his superior follow-up.
5. Involuntary (2008)
Just like The Guitar Mongoloid, Involuntary is an anthology film that follows a totally new cast of characters, with each story revolving around the theme of decisiveness. More precise and succinct than his ambitious and vague debut feature, Involuntary is a far more accomplished piece of cinema that tells several unrelated stories about the importance of self-respect and discipline.
Cringey and uncomfortable throughout, several stories here make for fantastic pieces of drama, namely the sequence involving the teacher Cecilia, played by Cecilia Milocco.
4. Triangle of Sadness (2022)
The director’s latest movie surprised audiences and critics in 2022 by winning the Palme d’Or in a competitive year that included the accomplished likes of Close, Tori and Lokita and Decision to Leave. Whilst a shock, Östlund’s idiosyncratic satire is well worthy of its glorious prize, successfully lampooning the folly of contemporary culture with wit, drama and plenty of bombastic chaos.
Starring Harris Dickinson, Woody Harrelson and the late Charlbi Dean, Triangle of Sadness may be the director’s most playful piece of cinema, utilising several unique tools to tell his rampantly enjoyable story.
3. Force Majeure (2014)
Never has a romantic spat ever been better represented than in Östlund’s 2014 movie Force Majeure, a film that masterfully toys with the delicacy of the human condition. Breaking down the facade of traditional masculinity, the director’s fourth film tells the story of a family who is on holiday in the French Alps and the questionable cowardice of the father, who flees his family during a terrifying avalanche.
Handled with expert care by the two lead actors, Johannes Kuhnke and Lisa Loven Kongsli, who play the two lovers, Östlund’s film brims with the same authentic characterisation of a Mike Leigh classic.
2. The Square (2017)
Speaking of satire, Östlund did a great job breaking down the contradictions of the art world with his first Palme d’Or winner, The Square. Featuring the likes of Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West and Terry Notary, The Square told the story of a prestigious Stockholm museum and its chief art curator who try to push the boundaries of the form to set up a controversial and confusing new exhibit.
Questioning the constructs of taste, class and consequence, Östlund’s film is a painfully relevant movie for the realities of contemporary life in which the lines between what’s real and what’s fake seem constantly blurred.
1. Play (2011)
Careful, subtle and slow, the Swedish filmmaker’s third feature film remains his very best, despite his various Cannes trophies since. Reportedly based on a real-life tactic of bullying, Östlund’s film follows a group of young boys who manipulate and intimidate two victims of a similar age in central Gothenburg, Sweden, robbing them of their possessions and their innate innocence.
Using advanced role-play as opposed to physical violence, Play isn’t a viscerally brutal piece of cinema, but it is one that will manipulate, confuse and frustrate you. It’s frustrating, complex, upsetting, beautiful, and one of the modern century’s most enigmatic pieces of European cinema.
