Each edition of the Cannes Film Festival has its favorite film of the public, the critics, shocking and surprising. Rarely are all qualities summed up in a single film. That was the case with “Parasite” in 2019, but not with “Titane” in 2021, which to this day divides who loves and who hates.
“Triangle of Sadness” (in free translation “Triangle of Sadness”) by Swede Ruben Östlund manages to be the rare film to bring together the entire Cannes 2022 audience. the gala session, for selected guests from all over the world of cinema and in the session for press and criticism. But the big thermometer of whether a film is really liked is whether it is applauded in an open scene, i.e. during a scene. And “Triangle of Sadness” has been applauded several times in several sequences that touch the core of an audience immersed in a hypocritical, racist, classist and greedy consumer society.
Östlund, who had already tensed the ropes with the controversial ‘The Square’ (Golden Palme 2017), has stretched even further with the new film. He tramples on our worst moral and social pettiness to make the audience laugh at themselves in a Moliere tone. Let’s face it, it’s not the festival’s maintenance or cleaning staff, let alone the kitchens of the French city’s many overcrowded restaurants, that win invitations to the event’s sessions.
Speaking of the plot: “Triangle of Sadness” already plays with irony in the name. The term refers to the wrinkles we make when we frown. And it comes right at the beginning of the film when a reviewer asks the young model, played by young Carl (Harris Dickinson), to be more careful with his sadness triangle.
Shortly thereafter, the triangle of shorts, or sadness, emerges on a cruise Carl is taking with his girlfriend, influencer, and model Yaya (Charlbi Dean). Frequented by the superrich (the young couple are in the quota of celebrities who receive perks in exchange for their celebrity presence), the ship should be under the command of a captain attentive and careful with his people’s GDP. Instead of this. Lived masterfully by Woody Harrelson, The Captain is an American Marxist who prefers to spend his time drinking and debating politics with a Russian capitalist tycoon. By the way, when asked by the press, Harrelson said he was an anarchist.
Everything is going well, or almost so, until one night a storm brings the rich, arrogant and greedy guests to the brink of shipwreck. What would be the pompous dinner with the captain becomes a “shit show” of vomiting. The storm worsens and the ship’s sewage erupts, spreading the “m” everywhere. The boat is attacked by pirates and sinks.
The survivors are, in an allegory of society itself, walking archetypes. The beautiful influencer model but powerless in an environment where you have to fish your own food. The young model who is anything but alpha outside of the urban environment. The black machinist whom the Russian fertilizer tycoon mistakes for a pirate in disguise. The boss of the crew, who doesn’t come down from the station in rags and without food and thinks she can continue to lead the Asian cleaning boss.
Because the Asian is the only one who fishes, knows how to make a fire and survives in the inhospitable environment of the island. The reversal of power, gender roles and influence is masterfully crafted under Östlund’s precise hand. Anyone who has seen “The Square” knows what to expect. The director distills sarcasm, irony and stretches the most uncomfortable scenes to make the audience live with intensity their own mediocrity projected on screen.
In addition to the critical and sharp look at a society that “comes back because it went wrong”, “Triangle of Sadness” also has humor. The 15minute sequence of the failed dinner cries with laughter, but also wants to throw up. Wouldn’t that be the perfect metaphor for our society today?
The dynamic established on the island shows that power and influence are a matter of context and that the humbled will not necessarily be wiser and/or humbler when they attain positions of power. Man is man’s wolf, isn’t it? There was no quoting of Thomas Hobbes in the citation battle between the Russian and the captain.
Precise direction, right timing (albeit a bit too longwinded) and an astute cast made “Triangle of Sadness” the most celebrated film in the official competition of Cannes 2022 to date. There is still a long week until the awards ceremony on Saturday (28), but one We already have certainty. If he doesn’t walk away with another Palme d’Or, the Swede will lose at least one Grand Prix from the jury.