Cognitive film theory can try to model the cognitive processes at work, given a hypothesis of continuity between symbolic and narrative meaning. On one end of a continuum, I will hypothesize, there are decorative elements that vaguely resonate with other elements; on the other end we find resonances that emphasize a theme and carries implications for characters. I will ground my account of symbolism on the finding that retrieval from memory is constructive, drawing on Lawrence Barsalou's Perceptual Symbolism, and Daniel Kahneman's anchoring. Ruben Östlund’s The Square (2017) invite multiple conceptualizations of symbolic meaning, and I will show how we can think of parallelisms and contrasts as serving purposes of symbolism.