Ruben Östlund has created another absurd dark comedy in which the über rich are puking and getting puked on onboard a luxury yacht. It is a satire on class and the superficiality of the fashion and influencer cultures.

Swedish director Ruben Östlund has done it again. Five years after he won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his provocative comedy and Golden Globe nominee The Square, he has made yet another film with the purpose of making the audience awkward and uncomfortable. One is not sure whether to cringe or laugh when the ultra-rich passengers on board a luxury yacht are puking and getting puked on during a ferocious storm at sea while listening to the Marxist speeches of the ship’s drunken captain, played by Golden Globe nominee Woody Harrelson.

“We wanted to create like a rollercoaster for adults and something that is entertaining and challenging and funny. And to really use the cinema for what it is to be used for: to have an experience together. When you leave the cinema afterward, you should be like, “What happened?” You have something to talk about,” Ruben Östlund said at the press conference in Cannes, where his new film premiered in the main competition.

The movie is structured in three parts. In the second part, hell breaks loose and the über rich puke and get puked on. The travelers are privileged and behave as such. There is the Russian oligarch, Dimitryi (Zlatko Buric), who made his millions by selling excrement as fertilizer. His wife, Vera (Sunnyi Melles), says to a staff member that ‘we are all equal’, after which she orders that all crew members go for a swim – she does not take no for an answer.

There is the seemingly cozy old English couple (Oliver Ford Davies and Amanda Walker), who have become wealthy on arms dealing so that they could help ‘uphold democracy.’ A hand grenade is their top-selling product. When human debris hits the fan and passengers get all covered in it, it creates quite an absurd comedy.

“It was so beautiful because people were applauding like it was a football game, someone told me,” Ruben Östlund said about the reaction in Cannes. “It was a football game going on. And when Dolly de Leon’s character is taking over the controls, they’re like: ‘Yeah!’”

Marxism to the Rich

In The Triangle of Sadness, it is the captain, Thomas, who decides that the journey’s most luxurious dinner gala should take place the day a storm is forecast. Naturally, disaster follows. As the captain and Dimitriy are the only ones able to, literally, stomach the storm, they keep drinking. While the rest of the passengers are getting sicker and sicker, they start discussing their political views on the yacht’s loudspeaker. Thomas is a Marxist. Dimitriy, a capitalist. They have fun volleying quotes and political views at each other while the passengers, dressed in fancy clothes and covered in vomit, fear for their lives.

“He can make you extremely uncomfortable,” says Woody Harrelson about Ruben Östlund’s sense of humor. “He can make you think. He can give you a sense of meaning, like there was a purpose to going to see the film. At the same time and, perhaps, more importantly, he makes you laugh throughout, which is quite a trick.”

One of the passengers, Carl (Harris Dickinson), is not particularly rich. He’s on the trip with his model-influencer girlfriend, Yaya (Charlbli Dean). They travel for free, that is, as long as her Instagram posts radiate a glowing tone. Carl is a fashion model, whom we meet at a casting event. Despite being very young, handsome, and physically flawless, those judging his looks point out that he has a “triangle of sadness” – a term used to describe his non-existent frown lines between eyebrows. He could use a round of Botox. Only then he might be able to promote those very top brands that he was born to represent. “It makes very astute points about human behavior,” says Dickinson about the film. “Ruben is incredibly observant. Being a part of those conversations is informative and entertaining as well. He’s wonderful at picking holes in our behavior and in our ego. With this character I really had to try and let go of that, allow myself to be pathetic, offer myself up as a piece of meat.”

Roles Turned Upside Down

The third part of the film is on a deserted island, where a few of the passengers end up. Here, roles are switched. Chief steward Paula (Vicki Berlin) is fast replaced. A Filipino bathroom cleaner, Abigail (Dolly de Leon), is all of a sudden the one in charge. Abigail is the only one capable of catching fish so that the survivors can go on living. “I think that, from my perspective, because I’m Filipino and there are a great majority of overseas Filipino workers who are domestic helpers in other countries, I felt like the piece was very important,” says Dolly de Leon. “This is a person who has very few advantages. But, one day, takes over a society.”

On the deserted island, full bank accounts and fancy watches no longer matter. It’s all about the survival of the fittest. Carl stops trying to please his beautiful Instagram influencer. He finds it more lucrative to offer his services to Abigail.

“She’s the one in power,” says Dolly de Leon. “People look up to her and depend on her. It was really fun to play someone like that. That part alone, I was already sold on it. I thought it was a really fantastic idea to bring us up in a place where we normally don’t feel like we’re in because we come from underprivileged families and we’re a developing country.”

While Carl and Yaya were dating just to promote their careers on social media, they act like a regular couple arguing about money. Ironically, she earns more than him, because she is female. When he points this out, as she is so slow to pick up the check at an expensive restaurant, the issue triggers an awkward and long-lasting argument that is as absurd and cringeworthy as many other scenes in the film.

“Coming from a fashion background, I definitely have an inside scoop into it,” says Charlbi Dean about the upscale world depicted in the film. “It does play a role in it, whether you are aware of it or not. You see that in this film. What makes it so interesting is, in real life we do have a currency, whether it’s our wealth, our beauty, our influence, or our power. Until you’re put into a situation where that currency is of no value. And then, who are you? What do you bring to the table? Will you be eaten first?”