Triangle of Sadness (2022)

I did quite enjoy this, but it's far too long and I found that the funniest bits had all already been seen in the trails! Initially, it centres around the fairly tempestuous relationship between models "Carl" (Harris Dickinson) and "Yaya" (Charlbi Dean). The latter is an influencer who looks at their relationship as something more transient; he is much more besotted - and so vows to make her fall in enduring love with him. Off onto a luxury yacht they head for an holiday with a few millionaires run by the super-officious "Paula" (Vicki Berlin) and captained by the dipsomaniac Woody Harrelson. The two befriend the lively and charismatic Russian oligarch "Dimitry" (Zlatlo Buric) and his wife "Vera" (Sunnyi Melles) before a captain's dinner that the choppy seas ensure ends in a messy and entertaining disaster! The remainder of their adventure has something of the "Admirable Crichton" to it, as they must adapt to the command of their erstwhile toilet cleaner "Abigail" (Dolly De Leon) who exacts her own unique sort of fees from her erstwhile patrons in return for catching fish and lighting fires... It does take a ping at the vacuousness of the modelling industry and at the unscrupulousness of big business - best exemplified in one scene with Oliver Ford Davies and Amanda Walker as the demure Brits who made their fortune selling "the greatest single contribution to democracy" (hand grenades!). Sadly, though, the moments of humour are relatively short and sweet when put into the context of this lengthy and frequently rather dull enterprise. Dickinson looks great shirtless, but as an actor he has limitations and I didn't really feel much chemistry between him and, well, anyone else. The last half hour could have been better, funnier, had there been a slight sense of menace - but somehow I just knew that the ending was going to deliver they way it does. Buric adds value, as does Henrik Dorsin's gazillionaire "Jarmo" but by half way through the joke had worn too thin to sustain it and I was a little bored. Doesn't need a big screen, and co-produced by the BBC I expect it can wait for Christmas television for most of us.

sketched, never completed

Looks like the director/writer had some notes, and didn't get around to write a complete script. So the movie starts out very promising, but then gradually runs out of ideas, until the last half is just ticking off the boxes of expected items.

The quirky, funny look into modelling is followed by a well cast and (in some moments) acted part about relationship issues between inexperienced, clueless, and selfish people.
We learn that the naïve male model is actually in love, while his female model/influencer counterpart tells him he's nice entertainment until she finds a rich guy to be trophy wife for. This doesn't deter him... and that was the promising bit.

Next, they are on a luxury yacht for the decadents; and there is still potential for a really good story: the upstairs/downstairs angle is only implemented in a few scenes, most screen time of this part is spent on lavish dining with icky "haute cuisine" food in rough seas, and the consequences thereof.

That was when the really good part could've started: how to they meet or avoid gazes the next day, the day after? What has changed, how, what shouldn't and how do class barriers break?

Instead, we get a clownish intermezzo and next, the boring island section. This part is just tedious agitprop, reducing the (already shallow) characters to templates, and doing all the expected bits. Waste of time, talent, and a nice beach.


For some reason, people are so content with half-baked products these days, you can even win prizes this way. 5/10, there's better ways to waste time, but this isn't the worst either.

Not much character development or story really, BUT ... the Captain's dinner is classic.

A social media and extremely influential power couple, Carl ( Harris Dickinson ) and Yaya ( Charlbi Dean Kriek ) are invited on board a private luxury super boat in a bid to promote the experience to their followers. The boat has a number of mega rich but morally bankrupt passengers and a large team of staff to pamper to their every whim. “Triangle of Sadness” develops characterisation as the audience get to know the guests, their status and their wealth. The Captain ( Woody Harrelson ) is fighting his own demons including alcohol to which he unfortunately succumbs during the Captains Meal. It is this particular evening, a rough night on the sea,  that events take a sinister turn with most passengers violently ill due to the effects of sea sickness. There are a number of graphic scenes of vomiting and over spilling toilets that leads to a blackout and the passengers and crew being thrown around by the rough weather.  

As if the mega rich hadn’t suffered enough, further disaster unfolds that leads to a number of passengers and crew being stranded on a deserted island and fighting for survival. The questions “Triangle of Sadness” asks is, who is actually necessary to society and why? This harsh assault on capitalism takes a further turn when self proclaimed leader of the survivors , Abigail ( Dolly De Leon ) becomes poisoned by power and love or lust. In a final act that turns the protagonist into antagonist Abigail becomes the sort of person she hated so much when working as a cleaner on board the super boat.

With solid all round performances and some extreme vomit and toilet humour, this social commentary satire directly hits all of its targets.

**By: Louisa Moore / www.ScreenZealots.com**


Writer / director Ruben Östlund‘s wickedly sharp black comedy “Triangle of Sadness” offers a biting satire of everything from gender roles, capitalist society, corruption of power, modern masculinity, and the social hierarchies that result from a system that encourages class division. The film has a lot to say and does it well, wading through layers of stinging dialogue, sophisticated observations, and lots and lots of vomit.

The film is a lot more than its now-infamous fifteen minute puking scene, however. It’s an in-your-face story that doesn’t shy away from confronting everything from the rampant abuse of the less privileged to the primitive savagery of human nature.

Instagram influencers and celebrity model couple Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean) are invited on an all-expenses-paid vacation on a luxury cruise in exchange for expert promotion on social media. The ritzy yacht is frequented by ultra-rich passengers who demand the finest things in life (one of the early scenes features a helicopter air-dropping a couple of jars of Nutella in the ocean, which is hilarious because it’s so ridiculous).

As Carl and Yaya settle in, they begin to meet their very wealthy fellow guests, including a couple of British arms dealers, a Russian oligarch (Zlatko Buric), and an unhinged Marxist boat captain (Woody Harrelson) who spends the majority of the cruise drunk and locked in his cabin. If not a recipe for disaster, it certainly sets the stage for an interesting few days at sea. But after the ship encounters a vicious storm and capsizes, the handful of survivors are left stranded on a deserted island and fighting for survival.

The film has a lot to say about feminism, sexism, today’s social-media obsessed society, the gross exploitation of the working class, the conflicts between the haves and have-nots, the shallowness of the fashion industry, and lots more.

While it would’ve been the easier route to demonize the billionaires in his story, Östlund instead chooses to make them appropriately ostentatious yet still kind of likeable. They’re not entirely jackasses, they’re just mega-wealthy. Setting the film on a cruise ship is brilliant too, as they have a built-in class system between passengers and amongst the crew. The boat symbolizes the hierarchy of social classes, including the officers, the predominantly white “face time” staff, and the lower rungs that include the cooks, engineers, janitorial workers, and other people of color. It’s satisfying to watch the pecking order not only completely dissolve but get turned upside down after the yacht sinks. That’s when the working class takes over, because they’re the ones who know how to get stuff done.

The film offers shrewd observations and a critique of class and privilege, culminating in a third act that delivers a bountiful amount of schadenfreude. The best is the story of “toilet worker” Abigal (Dolly De Leon, who gives the film’s standout performance), a woman who quickly takes command on the deserted island because she is the only person with any sort of survival skills. After starting a fire, catching fish, and handling the distribution of the small amount of supplies left on the lifeboat, she demands that everyone refer to her as “Captain.” She even begins trading food for sexual favors with Carl.

Östlund’s film about a cruise from hell is an achievement in satire that effortlessly skewers many timely subjects. He sets his eyes squarely on deserved targets and dismantles them with wit and sophistication, making “Triangle of Sadness” one of the smartest and most interesting films of the year.