“Triangle of Sadness” is a hilarious and thought-provoking film, which manages to nail its satirical tone and commentary on classism, until the moment it manages to fall apart.
For about first half, the Palme d’Or winning film was firing on all cylinders, and hitting all of the right notes with its deeply comedic criticism on the super-rich, and the economic value we place on vanity.
Telling the story of a cruise for the super-rich which sinks, leaving survivors – including a fashion model celebrity couple – trapped on an island, the movie captures your attention and keeps you engaged.
It’s an uninhibited satire where roles and class are inverted.
“Models Carl and Yaya are navigating the world of fashion while exploring the boundaries of their relationship.
“The couple are invited for a luxury cruise with a rogues’ gallery of super-rich passengers, a Russian oligarch, British arms dealers and an idiosyncratic, alcoholic, Marx-quoting captain.
“At first, all appears Instagrammable. But a storm is brewing, and heavy seasickness hits the passengers during the seven-course captain’s dinner.
“The cruise ends catastrophically. Carl and Yaya find themselves marooned on a desert island with a group of billionaires and one of the ship’s cleaners. Hierarchy is suddenly flipped upside down, as the housekeeper is the only one who knows how to fish.”
The film, cleverly directed by Ruben Östlund, works really well when it sticks to the absurdist comedy tone that it sets up in the first half of the story.
Absurdist comedy, also known as surreal humour, is concerned with building up expectations and then knocking them down by the unexpected turns, to claim the funniest reaction, and doing this all for the viewer’s amusement.
We get characters so obscenely wealthy, they are disconnected from reality, with their outlandish requests and demands. Their behaviour is only further enabled by the cruise crew, who always say yes to the outrageous demands, regardless of how disruptive it may be.
Witnessing all of this is are models Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean Kriek) who are benefiting from being attractive, and the access that beauty allows you, but also have financial problems, despite the appearance of wealth and luxury they put on.
When we focus on the couple, we really get to see two characters playing into the societal expectation of gender roles.
Carl, in particular, struggles with this as he is a male model, which the movie highlights means he get paid less, but is still expected to pay for dinner when out with Yaya.
After having a fight over the restaurant bill, Yaya later admits that she saw the bill arrive but she expected him to pay despite her previous promises to pay.
The couple manage to make up and then enjoy the cruise they end up on, where Östlund hilariously shows off how daft and obtuse wealthy people can be.
It all climaxes in an over-the-top sequence where they are hit by heavy seasickness during the seven-course captain’s dinner.
If you’re the type to throw up after seeing other people throw up, then this is not the movie for you, as here is where the film is visually illustrating their obscene wealth with an obscene vomit sequence.
After the cruise ends catastrophically, Carl and Yaya find themselves marooned with those who survived. We see how the hierarchy is suddenly flipped upside down when Abigail, a housekeeper from the ship, becomes so-called-captain.
Not long after this, the film flips the perspective with Abigail (Dolly De Leon) and the power she wields, which she soon ends up abusing and getting corrupted by.
In this shift in tone, the movie falls apart.
Just as Carl is manipulated by Yaya at the start, he gets manipulated by Abigail at the end, and ends up facing “quid pro quo” harassment, where she benefits from sexual favours while he gets extra food treats.
The movie doesn’t frame is as harassment at the start, with Yaya seemingly benefiting from it, but as Carl endures the manipulation for the long period of time he is on the island, it starts to have a detrimental impact on his relationship with Yaya.
The reason the movie falls apart for me at this point is because it tries to play off the sexual harassment and abuse of power for laughs, which is at odds with the change of tone which is apparent once they get deserted.
We see a montage of Carl being summoned by Abigail for sexual favours, and all the while there is no one on hand to comment or critique it, everyone just laughs at it, and his harassment is presented as comedic.
What makes it worse is the juvenile and immature behaviour he exhibits throughout the film, which comes off as emphasising his lack of critical skills to understand he is being manipulated and made to feel at ease with the sexual assault.
Carl and Abigail have a conversation of consent towards the end, which the movie tries to frame as mutual decision, but is made apparent it is actually just Abigail’s manipulation of the situation, and the power she had which she was abusing.
“Triangle of Sadness” would have been a better film had it focused on Carl and Yaya, and its commentary on their aspiration for wealth, especially in contrast to the ridiculousness of the wealth on display by the super-rich on the cruise.
There was a way to use satire to critique both the behaviour of Carl and Yaya, and that of the super-rich, but this film misses the mark by trying to do too much with its focus on power-play and undercutting the impact it has on society.
If the film wants to criticise the super-wealthy and the power structures they benefit from, it also has to criticise the abuse and wrong behaviour that those power structures enable.
The film is visually stunning and while it was not to my enjoyment, it is is apparent that there is a reason why it is an Palme d'Or-winning film.
An honourable mention should be given to recently-deceased SA actress Charlbi Dean Kriek, who does a great job in the movie as Yaya, and who delivers a lovely performance.
Rating: 5/10
The film is currently showing at cinemas, nationwide.