Triangle Of Sadness

''Triangle of Sadness'' (french: Sans filtre, lit=Without Filter) is a 2022 satirical black comedy film written and directed by Ruben Östlund in his English-language feature film debut. The film stars Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Dolly de Leon, Zlatko Burić, Henrik Dorsin, Vicki Berlin, and Woody Harrelson. It is the last film Dean starred in before her death in August 2022.

''Triangle of Sadness'' had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2022, where it received an eight-minute standing ovation and won the Palme d'Or, and was released in France on 28 September, in the United States and Sweden on 7 October, in Germany on 13 October, and in the United Kingdom on 28 October. The film received generally positive reviews. It also won four European Film Awards, including the Best Film.

Plot

Carl, a model, and Yaya, an influencer, are dating. Carl resents Yaya for expecting him to pay for meals even though she earns more than he does; they bicker about money and gender roles. They are invited on a luxury cruise aboard a superyacht in exchange for promoting it on social media. Among the wealthy guests are the Russian oligarch Dimitry and his wife Vera; the elderly couple Clementine and Winston, who have made their fortune manufacturing weapons; Therese, who is only capable of speaking a single sentence in German following a stroke; and a lonely tech millionaire, Jarmo. The guests luxuriate on the yacht, oblivious to the crew working to meet their every need and whim. The head of staff, Paula, demands they obey the guests' absurd requests, including having every crew member swim in the pool. Meanwhile, the yacht's captain, Thomas Smith, spends his time drunk in his cabin.

Paula gets Thomas to sober up and attend the captain's dinner as the yacht passes through a storm. Several guests become violently seasick, and panic breaks out. The drunken Thomas and Dimitry argue about socialism and capitalism over the intercom, and several guests are injured as the storm tosses the ship and the power goes out. When morning arrives, pirates attack, killing Clementine and Winston with one of their own grenades, and capsizing the yacht.

A small group of survivors consisting of Carl, Yaya, Dimitry, Therese, Paula, Jarmo, Nelson (who claims to be a ship mechanic, but may actually be one of the pirates), and cleaner Abigail manage to escape to an island. Abigail, the only one with any survival skills, quickly sheds her lowly crewmember status and usurps command. As the survivors bond and come to terms with their new situation, Abigail gains more power, getting her own private bed inside the lifeboat, and coercing Carl into a sexual relationship in exchange for Carl getting special privileges and food. Yaya grows jealous, and Carl considers leaving her for Abigail.

Yaya decides to hike to the other side of the island, and Abigail volunteers to go with her despite Carl's concerns. They discover an elevator and realize they have been stranded near a luxury resort. Back at their camp, Therese encounters a beach vendor but is unable to communicate her situation. Yaya celebrates finding the elevator, but Abigail hesitates to enter. Abigail prepares to attack Yaya with a rock, but hesitates when the oblivious Yaya offers Abigail work as her assistant. Carl is then seen frantically running through the jungle.

Cast

* Harris Dickinson as Carl
* Charlbi Dean as Yaya
* Dolly de Leon as Abigail
* Zlatko Burić as Dimitry
* Iris Berben as Therese
* Vicki Berlin as Paula
* Henrik Dorsin as Jarmo
* Jean-Christophe Folly as Nelson
* Amanda Walker as Clementine
* Oliver Ford Davies as Winston
* Sunnyi Melles as Vera
* Woody Harrelson as the Captain

Production

''Triangle of Sadness'' was announced by the director, Ruben Östlund, in June 2017, after his film '' The Square'' won the Palme d'Or at the 70th Cannes Film Festival the previous month. He said the film was to be called ''Triangle of Sadness'', a "wild" satire set against the world of fashion and the uber-rich, with "appearance as capital" and "beauty as currency" as the underlying themes. The English title refers to a term used by plastic surgeons for the worry wrinkle that forms between the eyebrows, which can be fixed with botox in 15 minutes.

Research for some parts of the script took place in May 2018. Casting took place from August to November 2018 in Berlin, Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles and Gothenburg, and continued in Moscow in March 2019. Location scouting began in January 2019 and lasted intermittently until October 2019. Östlund fine-tuned the last details of pre-production from November 2019 to the first half of February 2020.

In February 2020, it was reported that ''Triangle of Sadness'' would begin principal photography on 19 February in Sweden and Greece, with a 70-day shoot, and that the cast would include Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean and Woody Harrelson. About 120 actors were considered for the role that Dickinson landed. On 26 March, production paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic with about 37% of shooting completed. Editing started during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Production resumed on 27 June in Sweden, allowing Harrelson to finish his scenes, but was halted again on 3 July.

Production resumed on 18 September on location at Chiliadou Beach, Euboea, Greece, for the last 38 days. Photography wrapped on 13 November 2020, concluding a 73-day shoot. Östlund mentioned that the production carried out 1,061 COVID-19 tests throughout filming and all were negative. Filming also took place on other Greek islands, on the stages of Film i Väst in Trollhättan, Sweden, and in the Mediterranean Sea on the ''Christina O'', the yacht formerly owned by Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy. Post-production lasted 22 months. According to the actors, Östlund shot as many as 23 takes for each scene.

Release

''Triangle of Sadness'' premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2022, and on 28 May won the festival's Palme d'Or. It was an official selection of the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, where it held its North American premiere on 8 September, and the 2022 New York Film Festival (1 October).

Neon acquired North American distribution rights for $8 million, winning a bidding war with A24, Searchlight Pictures/Hulu, Focus Features and Sony Pictures Classics. The film was released in France on 28 September 2022, in the United States and Sweden on 7 October, in Germany on 13 October, and in the United Kingdom on 28 October.

Reception

Box office

, ''Triangle of Sadness'' has grossed $4.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $14 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $18.2 million.

In the United States, ''Triangle of Sadness'' opened in 10 locations in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco to a debut of $210,074, for a per theater average of $21,007. In its second weekend, it grossed $657,051 on 31 screens. In its third weekend, it grossed $600,000 on 280 screens, finishing tenth at the box office. In its fourth weekend, it grossed $548,999 on 610 screens.

Critical response

Richard Brody, in a critical review for ''The New Yorker'', described ''Triangle of Sadness'' as "a movie of targeted demagogy that pitches its facile political stances to the preconceptions of the art-house audience; far from deepening those ideas or challenging those assumptions, it flatters the like-minded viewership while swaggering with the filmmaker’s presumption of freethinking, subversive audacity". Brody described Östlund's direction as "precise but stiff" and criticised the film's emphasis on social commentary: " �stlund'skeen observations are submerged in his efforts at social criticism and political philosophy". However, Brody commended the cast performances — particularly Dean's, of which he wrote: "If nothing else, the movie would have assured her stardom; there’s no telling how many characters and films her death foreclosed before their conceptions."

Accolades

References

External links

''Triangle of Sadness''
at Festival de Cannes

''Triangle of Sadness''
at TIFF

''Triangle of Sadness''
at NYFF
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Official screenplay

{{Portal bar, Film, Sweden, Germany, France, United Kingdom

2022 films
2022 black comedy films
2020s British films
2020s English-language films
2020s French films
2020s German films
2020s satirical films
2020s Swedish films
Arte France Cinéma films
BBC Film films
British black comedy films
British satirical films
Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Films about the upper class
Films directed by Ruben Östlund
Films set on cruise ships
Films set on islands
Films shot in Greece
Films shot in Sweden
French black comedy films
French satirical films
German black comedy films
German satirical films
Palme d'Or winners
Swedish black comedy films
Swedish satirical films
Films about survivors of seafaring accidents or incidents