Triangle of Sadness
2022 Directed by Ruben Ostlund
The film starts with a bitter satire of the male modeling industry and marketing. A Swedish interviewer jokes whether the casting call is for a smiley brand or a grumpy one. The cheaper the product, the more smiling you get; the more expensive and you can look down on your consumer. A male model Carl is asked to give the grumpy look-- too self satisfied to be with any other cultures and unapproachable. And now he's told he's wearing something way less expensive- H&M! The multi-ethnic group of models comes together- smile! You too can be part of the group! #FRIENDSHIP #EQUAL" The interviewer asks them to pose through the stone cold face of Balenciaga-- and now H&M... and now Balenciaga!
This sets the tone for what follows- the thematic cues are of resentment towards false ideology. Carl is already struggling as a model growing older in his mid 20s and making 1/3rd of the money as his model girlfriend Yaya- but she acts as if she doesn't see the check come to the table when presented. They fight about pushing against traditional gender roles and Carl demands that they be equal in all things as partners to be married. Yaya confides the relationship is really about what their brand can be for social media. Later on they're invited to a cruise for the elite - to create a social influencer engagement to the luxury brand
Each of the characters on the cruise becomes representative of differing views on social wealth and capital. The white crew wearing sailor uniforms pumps itself up as servicing the elite guests no matter how illegal the request for big tips--screaming "Money, Money, MONEY" in ecstasy while the crew of non-whites is shown as waiting to do their maintenance jobs in dull colored uniforms below deck. Woody Harrelson as the drunken captain exchanges barbs about communism and capitalism with a Russian oligarch. An elderly couple has benefitted from manufacturing weapons. The guests make demands that seem nonsensical to the crew- and the crew has to serve them spoiled seafood when those plans delay cooking. The scatological humor watching a boatload of rich spew food feels like a chortle about high art. It's all nonsense after all- and certainly Cannes ate this up as something resounding- an empty shell as the rich audience congratulates itself on being low brow.
The girlfriend Yaya is business astute and pointedly "all about the money" while the sweetheart Carl finally sells sexual favors for food when they're all eventually crashed upon some deserted isle after pirates attack with the very weapons the elderly couple created. This split of chapters doesn't help the momentum of the film- which takes far too long to really settle on what it wants to say about society. None of the characters seem to outgrow some small outline of what they're supposed to represent. The maid Abigail that takes charge on the island and creates a small commune where she rules still abuses her power- and is shown to what lengths people go to keep themselves there.
The plot and thematic ties aren't enough to stay engaged with the film at almost 3 hours, and it starts to feel like pontification on the part of the Swedish director. I wonder if this is more a pointed film about Swedish culture - as equality is a key driver of the modern Swedish identity. As seen with the comment on Swedish Brand H&M- there's a falseness to this kind outward equality while the reality is that once we're all back to survival we'll tear one another apart.
In itself this may be a projection of my own analysis applied to a film that doesn't really have a direction to the other caricatures of societal themes. Because these scattered themes are delivered in such a scattered way it's left to the audience to interpret what if anything to take from this. In that way the film, especially in the final act, becomes as shallow as what it supposes its subjects to be.