Ah, Ruben Östlund is at it again. The man who made you squirm through "The Square" and wince through "Triangle of Sadness" is back, this time to ruin air travel for you forever.
"The Entertainment System Is Down" has officially started principal photography, which means we’re one step closer to a film that will make us question the very fabric of our fragile, screen-addicted existence. If you thought crying babies, turbulence, and the person who reclines their seat into your kneecaps were the worst parts of flying, just wait until Östlund shows you what happens when a planeload of passengers are forced to actually interact with each other. Horror.
The Set: A 747-Sized Playground for Anxiety
Not content with a mere set build, Östlund and his team have acquired an actual Boeing 747 for the shoot. Because if you’re going to psychologically torture your characters and, by extension, your audience, you might as well do it in style. The film, which is being shot in Budapest over a grueling 70-day period, promises to be a claustrophobic exercise in human misery and absurdity—so, in other words, classic Östlund.
The Cast: A Fever Dream of Talent
Kirsten Dunst? Keanu Reeves? Nicholas Braun? Tobias Menzies? Samantha Morton? Daniel Brühl? What kind of casting fever dream is this? It’s as if Östlund sat down and thought, “How can I make a film so uncomfortably star-studded that audiences will feel socially inadequate just watching it?”
Dunst, last seen effortlessly stealing scenes in "The Power of the Dog," will no doubt bring her signature mix of composed chaos. Reeves, a man so universally beloved he could probably get away with personally delaying your flight, is an intriguing addition. And then there’s Braun—yes, Cousin Greg from "Succession"—who seems custom-built for a film about upper-middle-class dysfunction.
Also joining the fun are Connor Swindells, Daniel Webber, Wayne Blair, Dan Wyllie, Lindsay Duncan, Allan Corduner, Sofia Tjelta Sydness, and—deep breath—Erin Ainsworth, Myles Kamwendo, Elle Piper, Thibaud Dooms, Sanna Sundqvist, Elle Piper (again?), and Tea Stjärne. Not to mention Swedish artist Benjamin Ingrosso, because apparently, this is also a music industry crossover event now.
The Premise: Your Worst Nightmare, Cinematically Enhanced
The story is set on a long-haul flight between England and Australia where, as the title suggests, the entertainment system goes down, leaving passengers with nothing but their thoughts, their fellow humans, and the increasing realization that they might actually have to communicate. The sheer terror of it all.
Given Östlund’s love of dissecting social hierarchies and human fragility, it’s safe to assume this won't just be two hours of people awkwardly reading the in-flight safety card. Expect meltdowns, existential crises, and at least one scene where someone tries to start a game of charades, only to have it descend into a metaphor for the collapse of modern civilization.
The Money Behind the Madness
Because making people deeply uncomfortable on an airplane requires more than just good intentions, "The Entertainment System Is Down" has an impressive lineup of financial backers. The project is produced by Plattform Produktion in collaboration with Essential Films, Parisienne de Production, and about a dozen other companies, institutions, and government-funded programs across Sweden, Germany, France, the UK, Norway, Denmark—you get the idea. Everyone wants in on the collective suffering.
A24 has already picked up U.S. distribution rights, because of course they have. The studio, which has essentially become a factory for anxiety-inducing indie cinema, must have heard “dysfunctional people trapped in a confined space with no escape” and started salivating.
What to Expect: Chaos, Probably
Östlund doesn’t make movies that let you sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. He makes movies that poke at your deepest insecurities, force you to confront the grotesqueness of human nature, and leave you staring at the credits thinking, “Well, that was profoundly unsettling.”
So, what will "The Entertainment System Is Down" actually look like?
Awkward social interactions stretched to their unbearable breaking point? Definitely.
Hysterical upper-class meltdowns? Almost certainly.
Keanu Reeves being the one sane person on the plane? A distinct possibility.
A slow, excruciating descent into madness, fueled by nothing but boredom and suppressed rage? You bet.
One thing is certain: after watching this, you'll probably never complain about in-flight WiFi again. Or maybe you will—but at least you’ll know how absurd you sound.
Fasten your seatbelts, folks. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
