#Movie #Review #TriangleOfSadness

SOME SPOILERS

A film named "Triangle of Sadness" sounds like it would be a dreary affair, but it's often uproariously funny, thought provoking, and sometimes even gross and sickening. That's a lot for one movie, but director Ruben Ōstlund, delivers all of this in what's more like a three-act play, telling three distinct stories.

The first act consists of a couple, both runway models, Yaya, played by Charlbi Dean Kriek and Carl, played by Harris Dickinson, who are on a dinner date.  Kriek was a South African model who died before the film's release. She was 32. The cause of her death was not released. Dickinson is a 26-year-old English actor. 

I mention thier ages because neither one of them is "old" or even middle aged. And they are not wearing makeup in the film to make them look old.

But in a flashback, we see that Dickinson's character's career is in a downward spiral. He is told, foolishly, it seems, that he needs Botox in the space above his nose between his eyes, the supposed "triangle of sadness" because it's a bit wrinkly. 

While his career is already waning, her's is on the rise, and at dinner, there is an extended discussion over who will pick up the tab.The fact that her career is going well, and his is not, plays into the discussion, suggesting that she should probably pick up the tab. But, she reminds him that he promised he would pick up the tab "the next time" at a previous dinner date. 

If it sounds tedious, the director does not makes it quite engaging. One critic even suggested that the entire film should have been focused on their relationship. And, while both of them are featured in all three acts of the film, it moves along to other topics.

The next act consists of a cruise on a multi-million dollar yacht, populated by multi-millionaires, investors, and the two models we met in the first act. Yaya wanted to go on the cruise to pose as an influencer on social media, and build her credibility as one. He apparently went along as arm candy and to snap photos.

The interactions between the yacht's upper deck crew and the passengers are both interesting and thought-provoking. The director is clearly making a statement about wealth, power, and the service class. We do get glimpses of the lower deck crew, who are never allowed on upper decks and likely do not get a cut of the huge tips that the upper deck crew gets from passengers.

Some of the wealthy are portrayed positively, such as when a passenger insists that a crew member take a dip with her in the pool as her equal. When the egalitarian captain of the vessel (a Marxist, we learn later, played by a scruffy Woody Harrelson) hears of the passenger's request, he makes it mandatory that all upper deck crew members take the day off and jump in the pool.

The Captain's decision to hold the big dinner of the cruise the same day a huge storm is known to be headed their way proves to be a bad one when passengers are thrown to and fro on the boat, and become sick on the slimy dishes that are on the menu that evening. The scenes of passengers getting sick in the dining room, the hallways, and on the toilet, are both disgusting and humorous. Mostly disgusting, though.

The storm seems to bring out the inner Marxist of the drunk Captain, who, along with a former East European passenger who has since become a strong capitalist, take to the intercom system of the now sinking ship to have a hilarious debate about Marxism and read quotes from Marx and leading Capitalists.

The storm results in the ship being destroyed with only a few survivors reaching shore on an apparently deserted island, where the third and final act "The Island," takes place. The handful of survivors find their leader in the head of the janitorial staff on the yacht, a strong middle-aged woman, Abigail, played by Filipina actress Dolly de Leon. 

Abigail became the undisputed leader of the group because, she argues, she alone can hunt, fish, and start the fires needed to cook fish and other wildlife she catches, although Carl and a German millionaire passenger kill a wild donkey later on. Carl and Yaya have both survived, and Carl quickly takes Abigail as as an unlikely lover, joining her in the evenings in a large lifeboat that resembles a dumpster.

When Abigail goes on a walk across the island in search of water and other supplies, she finds something that ends the film. She takes Yaya with her, at the latter's insistence, and she plots to kill Yaya and take her out of contention, because she seems jealous of the relationship that Abigail and Carl have developed on the island.

The ending is ambiguous and is bound to be controversial, but what they find on the other side of the island is truly interesting, and changes their predicament, entirely.

Triangle of Sadness had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on May 5, where it received an eight-minute standing ovation and won the prestigious Palme d'Or "Gold Palm."