Is a compelling character one who reacts organically to their environment, or someone who is weathering ceaseless misfortune despite efforts they've made to the contrary? I'll get to that, but first, the plot:
Married Ray (David Roberts) is having an affair with the much younger Carla (Claire van der Boom), who is also married to a criminal named "Smithy" (Anthony Hayes, coming off as a mulleted Australian analog of Tyler Labine). The film follows the unfaithful couple as they try to score one last bundle of cash to start a new life, and the increasingly horrific circumstances that arise because of it. Simple, yes, but the director knows how to work these minimal plot elements for a fantastic amount of tension with a nervy, handheld camera style. Unfortunately, with a slight foundation certain things get left by the wayside. You'll notice I didn't mention Ray's wife's name, because The Square doesn't seem particularly interested in her either and she's completely absent from the latter half of the running time.
The main problem with the film is that ninety percent of the misfortune befalling our protagonists is too random. They don't make rash decisions, the consequences of which will haunt them for the rest of their lives; they are simply dogged by a stream of predictable accidents growing to an almost antagonistic din by the end. This takes almost all characterization out of the plot and turns it into a 100-minute-long exercise in Murphy's Law.
It's not all bad, though. The film knows its subtlety: the sly reveal of Ray's married status after the opening tryst when he checks his watch, the unspoken implication that a man-for-hire is an unstable pyromaniac evidenced by spot-on acting and burn scars. The recurring scene of a runaway dog is loaded with subtext of guilt and inevitability. Also, Santa shows up on a boat.
There are better examples of Neo-Noir out there, but few of them generate the kind of tension that The Square is capable of, when it wants to be.
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