Name: Triangle of Sadness
Director: Ruben Östlund
Released: 2023-03-03T18:09:40

In the black-comedy film Triangle of Sadness, a group of wealthy individuals and a celebrity couple on a yacht run into obstacles that even put survival into question. It is now streaming on Hulu.

Story

The narrative structure is divided into three different parts: ‘Carl & Yaya’, ‘The Yacht’ and ‘The Island’.

In Carl & Yaya, the couple is at the centre. The former is frustrated by the fact that Yaya never offers to pay even though she earns more than Carl.

The second part is based on all those aboard the yacht, including the staff, who are made to follow the absurd orders of the wealthy.

After a tragedy in the second part, the final one focuses on the survivors from the yacht who are now stranded on a remote island and struggling to survive.

All three parts are drastically different and explore different themes. The central characters are distinct as well.

Performances

The entire ensemble cast gives a terrific performance in the kind of roles that are satirical and extremely hard to crack.

Dolly de Leon, who plays cleaning lady Abigail, is the pick of the bunch as she knocks it out of the park as her character in the final part.

Harris Dickinson, as Carl, and Charibi dean, as Yaya, are consistent throughout the film, but especially impress in the first and final parts.

Positives

The film is a strong, sharp satire on the affluent and Director Ruben Östlund excels in the treatment. Right from the first part, the lack of rationale and selfish nature are brought forth.

Yaya refuses to pay for anything even though she earns more than Carl. She leans on the fact that much of society expects the man to pay and is essentially waiting to be the trophy wife of a rich man.

This continues in the second part where the rich are completely unaware of the absurdity of their demands from the staff. They are literally living in their own world.

In the final part, the survivors realise that on an island where money means nothing, only the fittest survive as Abigail becomes the alpha.

The entire narrative is a scathing criticism of capitalism and how money changes mindsets. It also explores the thought process of the less privileged through Abigail.

When there is a way to safety, Abigail hesitates. She actually prefers this world where she is at the top because of her survival skills.

The humour in the film is subtle yet obvious. It doesn’t go for over-the-top sequences and instead achieves levity with nuance.

Negatives

The runtime of the film is stretched. While the narrative is engaging, it could easily have shaved off at least half an hour, which would have made the film much tighter.