Movie Details
Movie Triangle of Sadness(2022)
Director: Ruben Östlund
Cast: Thobias Thorwid, Harris Dickinson, and Charlie Dean
Movie Type: Comedy/Thriller
Release date: 13 September 2022
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
Languages: English
Duration: 2h 29m
Trailer
Synopsis
I admit that I kind of ignored the Triangle of Sadness and didn’t even try hard to find a way to it, and if the Cinematic festival hadn’t brought it under my nose, I don’t know if I would have seen it. It is of course purely my problem, a problem of my laziness and bias. Phrases like “social criticism, satire of contemporary society, success at Vary and victory at Cannes” led me to create in my head an image of some kind of artistic and demanding boredom about big themes, and maybe I will see it someday, although I’m not tempted to go at all across from her. Fortunately, I can now say that the idea was completely wrong and that you should not make the same mistake that I did. Burn this gem as soon as you get the chance, because not only is it one of the most interesting films of the year,
Yaya and Carl are models who are dating, but neither is quite sure if their relationship has a future, so they decide to go on a luxury yacht cruise to find out. Along with them, there are a few millionaires, elderly husbands in the arms industry, some models, a permanently drunk captain, and a whole army of cooks, stewardesses, lifeguards, boatmen, security guards, and other people ready to subvert the rich and powerful whenever they ask. But then something happens that turns the established rules on the ship and in society upside down. And we need to create new rules…
I won’t spoil it here, but I will say that Swedish director and screenwriter Ruben Östlund conceived Triangle of Sadness as a story divided into three chapters, which results in two things. First of all, it can change the atmosphere very quickly and forcefully and push this or that theme forward without clashing with the previous scene. The modest beginning about two heroes and one unsuccessful dinner does not fight for space with life on a yacht, where billionaires try to convince their surroundings and themselves that “we are all equal, including me and this waitress”. At the same time, however, there is a certain continuous development of not only the story but also the efforts for social satire. What begins as a dialogue between two heroes trying tooth and nail to win the position of the stronger in the relationship and not to be trampled by the other, gradually turns into a picture of a world where the rules of society are collapsing live, a different one is taking shape and the heroes are only painfully getting used to the fact that a watch for 150 thousand Euros suddenly has no value. And neither do they. In addition, thanks to the division into chapters, Östlund can push a character to the fore at one moment, the entire company of excursionists on a yacht at the next, and painlessly adjust the pace, style, and, to a large extent, the genre concept. And it never gets boring.
And then we have the second one, which was something I didn’t expect at all from the Triangle of Sadness The movie can be very funny at times. In a way that only Monty Python or the Farrelly brothers in the nineties can do. I don’t want to be specific here, because I would give you quite possibly the best movie scene of the year. However, what begins to happen on the ship as the heroes try to maintain the status quo and not leave their billionaire shell despite what is happening is completely beyond anything one would expect in an intellectual satire. The several-minute uncompromising barrage of brutal and unabashedly physical humor becomes more absurd, crazier, and more ridiculous with every shot. Here, Östlund crushes the veneer of luxury, snobbery, and superficiality by humiliating his heroes in an uncompromising way so that
A carefully constructed world of rules divided into above, below and in-between is collapsing, where everyone has tried to fulfill their roles and what is expected of them, only to end up completely humiliated, physically trampled, and in a new world where they cannot rely on anything they were used to until then. In addition, Ruben Östlund is not afraid to make fun of everyone. It would not be accurate to speak of The Triangle of Sorrow as a criticism of “those at the top”, because the director gives a lot of space, especially in the last third, to those from the lower levels of the social hierarchy, who can very quickly take advantage of opportunities and climb a bit higher. And behave exactly like those they left behind now.
In the end, Triangle of Sadness is very close to Parasite, for example. He is not afraid of interesting ideas and open criticism of contemporary society, but he does not try at all costs to appear unnecessarily intellectual and inaccessible. It is easy to understand in its message and packs everything into an attractive and in some moments incredibly entertaining form. Ruben Östlund does not try to beat the audience with symbolism and art here, his opinions are legible, presented in an attractive form, and served in such a way that the audience is first of all entertained and only then fundamentally reconsiders how much they agree or disagree with the director’s opinions.
It is simply a good, smart, and provocative film. In that exact order, and if Östlund’s views don’t appeal to you, it doesn’t matter because you’ll laugh anyway. The Cannes winner is one of the best films of the year, and if I had to criticize it for something, it might be, self-contradictory, what I praise about it, i.e. sometimes too much effort to make it easy for the audience. But it would be silly to project that into the ratings when the whole thing is so calm and entertaining.
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