Review: Triangle Of Sadness

Image courtesy of Neon.

 

Ruben Ostlund's "Triangle of Sadness," the director's second film in a row to win the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, may not exactly stick the landing - it merely ends following a moment of considerable tension without much closure of any sort - and the entire film may be like shooting fish in a barrel, but it's an often amusing epic of bourgeoise bashing.

European cinema of the mid-1960s through the 1970s frequently satirized the ruling class - Luis Bunuel's oeuvre is especially filled with films of this type - but it's been a while since a filmmaker has made a film of this type, that is, if you don't count Ostlund's 2017 film "The Square," which took aim - and to lesser effect - at the modern art world, or the significantly bleaker movies of director Michael Haneke. 

"Triangle" starts out with a similar vibe to "The Square," but in this case it's poking fun at the world of high fashion, as British male model Carl (Harris Dickinson) tries and fails to land runway gigs, while his girlfriend, Yaya (Charlbi Dean) finds much greater success. In fact, it's her success that leads to a prolonged argument about who should pay the check at a fine dining establishment - it's one of the film's funnier jokes - during the movie's opening section.

Suddenly, and without much warning or explanation, the picture cuts to a luxury cruise liner where Carl and Yaya have apparently won a free trip. They are surrounded by a number of obnoxious members of Europe's upper crust - one woman aboard the ship demands that the crew "have fun" by taking a turn on the liner's water slide, knowing that they cannot tell her no, while others loudly brag about their wealth and one woman insists that the boat's sails must be cleaned, even though it doesn't have any.

The film takes its time introducing these various characters, and while many of them remain in the realm of caricature, a few stand out - namely, a Russian capitalist named Dimitry (Zlatco Burik) and a German woman (Iris Berben) who has suffered a stroke and can only repeat the phrase "In den wolken" - which means "in the clouds," and is obviously where Ostlund believes these people reside.

But shortly after the boat has launched, bad weather becomes a problem and a massive storm causes most of the guests to get sick, leading to a prolonged series of shots of people vomiting everywhere or dirty toilet water flooding parts of the ship. However, amid all these grotesqueries is one of the film's funniest set pieces - a drunken debate between capitalist Dimitry and the boat's socialist captain (Woody Harrelson), in which the duo overtake the intercom system and argue via famous quotes - my favorite is the captain's usage of a pretty funny Karl Marx quote.

After some bandits strike the boat, causing it to sink, the final third of the film is set on a deserted island, where only a handful of the crew and guests have survived. They are led by one of the ship's workers (Dolly De Leon) who realizes she's in a position of power due to the fact that none of the shipwrecked rich people know how to catch food or cook.

In this final third, which plays like a satirical "Lord of the Flies," the picture begins to take a more obvious route - although there's an amusing joke revolving around the usage of a whistle - and it finally builds to an intense finale, but then leaves the audience hanging, although it's pretty easy to guess what happens next.

Ostlund has become a favorite at Cannes, although his first film - the only one of three not to win the coveted Palm d'Or - remains my favorite. That film, of course, is "Force Majeure," in which a couple's bickering reaches new levels when the husband flees, leaving his wife and children to fend for themselves, during an avalanche at a ski resort. 

That film was mordantly funny, whereas his follow up, "The Square," took very obvious shots at the art world and his latest is mostly an amusing satire of the wealthy. It's full of easy targets and not exactly what I'd call biting satire, but the picture is funny enough, well-shot and outrageous enough to keep things interesting. It received mixed reviews at Cannes and its taking the top prize was a matter of some controversy. While Ostlund might not be operating here at the level of a, say, Bunuel, his latest is still worth seeing.