Triangle of Sadness

Currently contending for multiple Oscars, including Best Picture, Triangle of Sadness has been a critical hit ever since it won the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, as did director and writer Ruben Ostlund's last film, The Square. This also features a posthumous leading lady with Charlbi Dean, who died suddenly of sepsis in August, shortly before its general release in October. It's readily available to rent in case you're interested. If not, here's the review.

Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Dean), world-famous models, are dating. But Carl feels the monetary gap between himself and Yaya. After all, why should he pay for meals if she earns far more than he does? They decide to forget about their troubles aboard a luxury yacht. The passengers are mostly rich morons. The captain (Woody Harrelson) spends most of the voyage nursing a hangover. One of the rich morons, Vera (Sunnyi Miles), inadvertently derails the cruise when she asks the crew to go swimming. That's nice and socially liberating. But who's minding the seafood they're cooking?

The dinner devolves into madness when nearly everyone comes down with food-poisoning. Suddenly, the yacht is flooded with sewage, passenger Dimitry (Zlatko Burić) fools everyone in thinking the yacht's about to sink and the power goes out. All in the midst of a vicious storm. And then pirates in the morning. 

The scant few survivors find themselves on an island. Most of them are out of their depths except for housekeeper Abigail (Dolly de Leon), who takes the reigns as their captain. She's not ready to relinquish command anytime soon. Not even if civilization is easier to reach than they realize.

Ostlund's screenplay is divided into three chapters. The first and bluntest chapter is devoted to Carl and Yaya's relationship. The social problems are laid thick from the opening model audition to Carl and Yaya's restaurant argument. They're pretty vapid, in every sense, though I disliked Carl more when he gets a yacht crewmember fired out of jealousy in the second chapter. Still, him arguing with Yaya over money as the elevator repeatedly closes between them is actually pretty funny. Its politics are still minor stuff compared to the next and longest chapter.

Oh yes, the yacht chapter. The ensemble that joins Carl and Yaya here maybe mostly morons, but only a few of them are unpleasant. Those two are the elderly arms dealers, Winston and Clementine (Oliver Ford Davies and Amanda Walker), who are quite proud of their profession until it literally blows up in their faces. Therese (Iris Berben), being a stroke victim, is the most sympathetic of the passengers. We truly feel for her in the end when she finds, but can't communicate with, a helpful stranger. Jarmo (Henrik Dorsen), a neebish programmer, is quite likable as he eventually grows a spine. The Captain and Dimitry are quite funny when they trade political quotes during the stormy mayhem. It's a shame that much of the crew didn't survive because they were quite likable.

The stormy mayhem is the film's signature scene. Cinematographer Fredrik Wenzel tilting the camera around is sure to make the viewers sick long before the characters are. You'll laugh as much as you'll gag as everything goes wrong. A character comes within inches of getting his head smashed-in by a sliding table. Dimitry's stupid prank gets people hurt, or worst, as they navigate the storm-tossed ship. Chief steward Paula (Vicki Berlin) tries desperately to regain control. Of course, she could justifiably mutiny, but that never crosses her mind.

And finally, the Island, which is where Abigail gets to shine. She was just a face in the crowd in the last chapter. But here, she lays down the law over their first island dinner. She's quite tired of being at the bottom of the social ladder despite her skills. And she won't take it anymore. She soon exploits the same idiots who exploited her. Carl and Yaya start getting more sympathetic when Abigail turns her attention to them. Her journey from nobody to nightmare reaches its peak when she and Yaya find the truth about the island. Her desperation to not return to her former status is palpably scary. That's where it ends.

Triangle of Sadness is a much bleaker Gilligan's Island. It's a nearly three-hour tour (149 minutes, to be exact) of madness and social evisceration. Its ensemble is great, even if their characters are vapid idiots. Its signature scene is a darkly hilarious pile-up of calamities. Anyone looking for a lighthearted affair needs to look elsewhere. Everyone else will be in for a memorable ride. See what I mean if you rent it from your favorite streaming service. That's it for now.