Triangle of Sadness

Models Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (the recently deceased Charlbi Dean) have become successful influencers with their photos. For more content, of course, the couple happily accepts invitations like the one to a luxury cruise. On a mega-yacht, they meet a motley crew of Russian oligarchs, Scandinavian IT billionaires and British arms dealers. The captain (Woody Harrelson), who only survives the trip in a drunken stupor, is hardly to be seen on board. Instead, decadence, superficialities and oversaturated boredom are omnipresent here. There are clearly distributed roles on board, but they are completely turned upside down when the ship gets caught in a storm and capsizes. A group of castaways lands on a deserted island, where suddenly the ship's cleaner (Dolly De Leon) sets the tone, being the only one who can make fire and fish...

"Triangle of Sadness" is the new film by Ruben Östlund, who last caused an international sensation with "The Square". It is a film about many people's obsession with appearances, a world in which a beautiful Instagram photo seems more important than inner well-being. But it's also a film about gender roles, about social justice, and about different value systems. Östlund serves the whole thing up in his usual unwieldy, absurd and cryptic way. This is sometimes extremely funny, but then again extremely exhausting and striking.

No question: the film has a very special charm and a rousing atmosphere. But it simply overshoots the mark at moments, conveying its provocative message in a way that is not entertaining, but extremely annoying. But even though the film is very long at just under two and a half hours, and the pleasure was at times greatly diminished by Östlund's style, which takes some getting used to, I could not escape a certain fascination that the film exudes. Yes, I really had to fight my way through some scenes. But the production never let me go.

"Triangle of Sadness" is not an easy film. I honestly don't know if I would call it a really good work either. But it is a very special film with some really brilliant moments that have a long lasting effect and still make you think and reflect weeks later. And that is for me, despite all the justified criticism, the decisive point, which is why I would like to give this Cannes winner a well-deserved "Seeworth". If you like arthouse cinema in the style of "The Square", you should definitely go on this challenging cruise to the Triangle of Sadness!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp