Review: 'Triangle of Sadness' is a hilariously dark & intelligent comedy not holding back with its treatment

Triangle of Sadness

There is just something deviously satisfying about watching dark satirical comedies and Swedish filmmaker Ruben Ostlund's first English-language feature and Oscar-nominated Triangle of Sadness seems to have served up the perfect dish. A mix of commentary on class divide and human behavior mixed with hilarious exchanges on communism, socialism and other factors, Triangle of Sadness presents a plethora of facets divided into three chapters. Having had the chance to see the film beforehand as it releases in India tomorrow, here is what I thought about it-

Exploration of Worlds Through Scathing Ways

There is a sense of brilliance attached to Ostlund's analysis of human behavior right from the banal manner in which people try to justify themselves while being pretentious and of course, 'rich f**ks.' While the first chapter is mostly dedicated to Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Late Carlbi Dean) and their conversations about money; the setting is so funny and innovative - be it the frequent camera movements inside a car or an escalator becoming the centre of a full-blown argument. 

In the second chapter, you deep dive into the world of influencers and the lies they present while they get into this luxury yacht which is filled with more and more rich and shallow people. The second chapter is indeed the most interesting one where you can literally witness three stages of class divide - the rich dimwits at the top, the yacht crew (mostly consisting of white people) in the middle and below is the cleaning crew which, not surprisingly consists of immigrant Americans. This comes into play hysterically on multiple instances while also being an active take on all the issues that surround it.

Impeccable Cinematography & Background Score

Getting into the technical aspects here, I am actually surprised as to why cinematographer Fredrik Wenzel isn't nominated in the aforementioned category at the Academy Awards. Wenzel is one of the reasons the emotion and the intention of the story is felt right through the scene. Right from the frequent camera jumps in characters to the use of titled angles when there is a storm hitting the yacht and the decisions to show the seemingly gross instances of characters puking and shitting - Wenzel's camera work is top notch. Also, Mikkel Maltha and Leslie Ming's fabulous background score and music along with the choice of external songs for the many situations that ranges from symphonies to EDM and some good old party music for the most unusual situations only add to the entire experience.

The Performances

This film, while being a unique masterclass at direction and originality is also a reminder of how some films also immensely need their actors to shine multiple folds. Every scene in the film is either extremely dialogue-heavy or has the camera not shifting away from the changing emotion on the actor's face for a long time. Fortunately, Ostlund managed to bring in some of the finest actors, who do their job expertly. 

Right from Dickinson to the late Charlbi Dean, from Zlatko Buric to giving a career-best performance Dolly de Leon, and a phenomenal cameo role from Woody Harrelson - everyone is in top form. One of most favorite moments in the film is Buric's Dimitry and Harrelson's Captain Thomas being drunk as they are reading and quoting Karl Marx and several other sayings about communism, socialism, idealism etc. The fact that it is real, dark and still funny makes for some classic black comedy.

The Open-Ended Climax & Your Takeaway

To an extent, the decision to keep the climax open-ended worked but also left with more questions than answers. Whenever a film doesn't entirely reach a culmination, there is still a sense of closure to the entire build-up to the storyline that you have been witnessing throughout the runtime. Here, it did not entirely land for me where I wanted to know the fate of several other characters, whom we are not informed about but it did make sense to be beginning the story with two principal characters and ending/not ending the film with a twist in their tale. What the film does well is leaving you with your takewaway. It can be anything and is left to imagination.

The Verdict

Triangle of Sadness is a black comedy that takes things too far with its escalation of a particular topic but with sharp cinematography, fantastic music and some fascinating plot developments that leave you wondering about issues ranging from patriarchy, pretense, gender roles and most importantly, human nature - of course being hilarious all this time

Rating - **** (4/5)