Lola Arias Files Lawsuit Against The Square

Earlier this year, Argentinian artist Lola Arias accused Ruben Östlund’s Oscar nominated movie The Square of using her name without consent in attributing an artwork to a fictional character that shares her name, and has now filed a lawsuit in Berlin to that effect.

The real Lola Arias originally played a minor role in the film but wasn’t included in the final cut. Despite her involvement, she maintains that she was unaware that her name was used and is displeased that it is in association with a piece of art that she considers ‘banal’.

Attorney for Lola Arias, Jakob Braeuer, told SVT Culture News: “The main goal of our application is to prohibit Plattform Productions from continuing to show the film with Lola Arias referred to as the creator of The Square, whether it be at the cinema, on DVD, iTunes, etc.”

However, Ruben Östlund has previously told Dagens Nyheter: “As for the name of the character, we always used Lola Arias. In the scene we filmed with Lola, she even says that in the dialogue. Therefore, it’s hard for me to understand how she could not be aware of it.”