Triangle of Sadness

Triangle of Sadness

Directed by Ruben Östlund

(2022, Imperative Entertainment/Film iVäs/BBC Films )

The meek shall inherit the Earth or say they say. In the film, Triangle of Sadness the sharpness of this equation is brought to light when a luxury cruise liner carrying the rich and famous including influencers, arms dealers, and the like crashes into the ocean leaving several remaining passengers to live off the land.

Since these millionaires, billionaires and social media stars have never really had to fend for themselves, especially for their very survival, they become dependent upon the one person who does. One of the survivors – a member of the ship’s cleaning team – the toilet manager.

She possesses the very skills that they all desperately need to survive. She quickly recognizes this and, in a scene reminiscent of Captain Phillips, she demands that everyone recognize and call her “the captain” to which she doles out pieces of fish that she caught to those that comply.

The scenes that take place on the ship are admittedly cringe-worthy with the guests treating the help like fixtures in place for them to use as well as a great performance by the drunkard captain, Woody Harrelson, who espouses social commentary over the loudspeaker as the ship gets tossed about in a violent storm.

Triangle of Sadness won the 2022 Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival with the audience giving it an eight-minute standing ovation. I am not sure if it deserved an ovation to that degree as the movie does drag a bit in the middle but nothing that is insurmountable.

This is a film you don’t want to look at but at the same time, can’t look away and in the end leaves you questioning to what desperation “the meek” will do to have to claw their way to inherit that Earth or at the very least be treated equally upon it.

A-