TRIANGLE OF SADNESS (2022) – My rating: 4.5/10

Triangle of Sadness is a satirical black comedy written and directed by Ruben Östlund in his English-language feature film debut. It is the last film Dean starred in before her death in August of 2022. The film follows a celebrity couple on a luxury cruise with wealthy guests.

I had not heard of Triangle of Sadness before the Oscar nominations were announced.  I saw the film because of its nominations and I absolutely hated it.

Carl (Harris Dickinson), a model, and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), also a model and an influencer, are dating. Carl resents Yaya for expecting him to pay for meals even though she earns more than he does.  They are invited on a luxury cruise aboard a superyacht in exchange for promoting the cruise on social media. Among the wealthy guests on board are the Russian oligarch Dimitry (Zlatko Burić) and his wife Vera (Sunnyi Melles);  Clementine (Amanda Walker) and Winston (Oliver Ford Davies), an elderly couple who made their fortune manufacturing weapons; Therese (Iris Berben), a wheelchair user only capable of speaking a single sentence in German following a stroke; and Jarmo (Iris Berben), a lonely tech millionaire. The head of staff, Paula (Vicki Berlin), demands the staff obey the guests’ absurd requests, whatever it is. Meanwhile, the yacht’s captain, Thomas Smith (Woody Harrelson) is a total drunk who mostly stays locked up in his cabin.

This formula is what the entire movie is based on. An overwhelming amount of crazy, bazaar incidents take place on this cruise. I’m not sure what the message is and I didn’t find the chain of events amusing.  If I had to guess, I think a lot of scenes were supposed to be funny and the demands that are put on the lower class by the rich are unreasonable and unfair. This theme is well-overplayed and overdone.  I found the ending to be the most disturbing, as it settled nothing and left you unable to make a reasonable conclusion.  Some of this story was so out of sorts that I asked myself, how did this film get nominated for best picture.  In conclusion, I didn’t like Triangle of Sadness and would deem the film a total waste of time.  Keep in mind, this is just my opinion, you may like the movie. Triangle of Sadness is streaming on Prime Video and can be rented for $5.99 — Check It Out!

As of 2 February 2023, Triangle of Sadness has grossed $4.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $18.8 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $23.1 million. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 72% based on 236 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The site’s critical consensus reads, “Triangle of Sadness lacks the sharp edges of Östlund’s earlier work, but this blackly humorous swipe at the obscenely affluent has its own rewards.”

[TRIANBLE OF SADNESS is Oscar-nominated for BEST: Picture, Directing, and Writing (Original Screenplay) totaling 3 nominations]

 

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