Sans filtre

Pretty much like "The Square", Östlund delivers again so much in between the lines of social criticism, while also not shying away from pretty much on the nose satire in its most vulgar form. While being creative and very anti-consumerism with the message here, this is a movie that might be to "critical" of the high society lifestyle, to reap rewards for the cleverly written satire it really is. It has a clear structure but also many flaws, that won't spoil the enjoyment though.

This movie is unfortunately 40mins to long and has an ending that is not satisfying in my personal opinion, but that's a matter of taste.

P. S. - Don't eat during act 2 and thank me later.

First of all, there is no earthly reason this movie needs to be 2 hours and 27 minutes. None. 147 minutes of beating home with sledgehammer efficiency, the prevalence of socio-economic injustice, the perverse obsession with the superficial over the substantial, and gender inequity. The exposing and mocking of which, I am 100% supportive! But the execution is so lazy and repetitive that, even though the core message is admirable, this can hardly be considered enjoyable, much less enlightening.

Now, I love a slow burn. I like long films. And I definitely like films that have something to say. But in all honesty, this film could have been cut by 1/3rd and spared the audience a lot of pain. Every scene is too long, starting from the very first one. There certainly is a message of gender-reversed exploitation to be made, but how long does it really need to take? And the awkwardness of Carl and Yaya's evening is excruciatingly drawn out, exacerbated by the dull and fractional dialogue (though this could be mitigated by the characters being dull and fractional themselves). Even the aftermath of the Captain's Dinner is gratuitously long and boring (I won't even bring in 'disgusting', because that frankly isn't even the issue.) It must be meant for an audience unfamiliar with subtlety in film, but there's no way that target audience has the attention span for such a drawn out film.

Only the 3rd chapter (which deep down somewhere, I knew *had* to be coming, though I'd hoped credits would role at the end of Chapter 2) was even remotely interesting. Two hours of laborious setup to reveal what we already knew in the first place, and had been very obviously foreshadowed from the first moments on the yacht. Take a bit of The Menu and add some Lord of the Flies, but the total is less than the sum of its parts.

You have probably never seen a movie like this one. Its craziness is simply undeniable, juggling the grotesque to perfection to paint an unflattering picture of the highest social castes. But while one could be reluctant to see yet another moralizing movie where "the rich are the bad ones and the poor are the good ones", Triangle of Sadness succeeds in going further. Indeed, every protagonist can be made fun of as, through the movie, they all reveal their flaws and their greed.

However, the movie remains first and foremost a clever satire of the highly wealthy. They give ridiculous speeches, make senseless demands and look down on the boat crew. Also, the great acting helps bringing humor in this sometimes blood-curdling picture. Finally, seeing how every character evolves through the various events is really interesting for this purpose.

The message is that money and power pervert you, going with the usual critique of capitalism. While this theme is quite recurrent, the odd way this movie brings it makes it very interesting, shouting out loud what we all already know. 7/10.

This is why I used to go to theaters - to watch thought provoking entertaining movies. While there may be little to no blood - this movie is brutal. No stone is left unturned as you move through society's expectations of class, money and sexual politics. This is not light breezy fun and is sure to turn your stomach just watching it at times. This is a return to an original script not based on some comic book or sequel of some long drawn out franchise. I mean you could watch another DC/Marvel movie but is there a point to that anymore? This is in my humble opinion the best movie of 2022 (so far).

At its top layer, "Triangle of sadness" is a skillfully harsh comedy/parody, proudly absurd with a good dose of "cringe" in each of its 3 parts. Yes, it's funny and yes it's rude and over the top, but how else could it be since it tries to point a finger at our contemporary society?

If you follow the path that Östlund opens up for you, you might notice that beneath the strangely entertaining package the director tires to bring to light weakness found in aparent strength and not only this, but he also implies that no matter how much you try to "strip" people of their social shell, deep inside they can never really change.

Absolutely recommended and definitely worth the Palme d'Or it got this year!