Triangle of Sadness is a 2022 internationally co-produced satirical dark comedy film written and directed by Ruben Östlund and starring Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean and Woody Harrelson. Production of the film was paused on two occasions in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was entered into the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, where it received an eight-minute standing ovation and won the Palme d'Or.
| Triangle of Sadness | |
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| Directed by | Ruben Östlund |
| Written by | Ruben Östlund |
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| Cinematography | Fredrik Wenzel |
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Running time | 149 minutes[1] |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | €13 million ($15.6 million) |
A fashion model celebrity couple, Carl and Yaya, are invited to a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, run by a Marxist captain, only for things to go wrong.
The project was first announced by director Ruben Östlund in June 2017, after his film The Square won the Palme d'Or at the 70th Cannes Film Festival the previous month. He said the film was to be called Triangle of Sadness, a "wild" satire set against the world of fashion and the uber-rich, with "appearance as capital" and "beauty as currency" as the underlying themes.[2] According to the filmmaker, the title makes reference to a term used by plastic surgeons to describe the worry wrinkle that occurs between the eyebrows, which can be fixed with Botox in 15 minutes.[3]
Research for some parts of the script took place in May 2018. Casting lasted from August to November 2018 in the cities of Berlin, Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles and Gothenburg,[4] and continued in Moscow in March 2019. Location scouting began in January 2019 and lasted intermittently until October 2019. From November 2019 to the first half of February 2020, Östlund fine-tuned the last details of pre-production of the film.
On 4 February 2020, it was reported that Triangle of Sadness would begin principal photography on 19 February in Sweden and Greece, marking the beginning of a 70-day shoot. The cast would feature Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, and Woody Harrelson.[5] About 120 actors were considered for the role that Dickinson finally landed.
On 26 March, production was forced to pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic with about 37% of shooting completed.[6] On 27 June, production resumed in Sweden after a three-month break, allowing Harrelson to finish shooting his scenes, but was forced to stop once again on 3 July.[7] On 18 September, production of the film resumed on location on Hiliadou Beach, Greece, for the last 38 days, which were broken down in eight weeks. Triangle of Sadness wrapped production on 13 November, resulting in a 73-day shoot. Östlund mentioned that the production carried out 1,061 COVID-19 tests throughout filming and all were negative.[8]
Filming also took place on other Greek islands, on the stages of Film i Vast in Trollhättan, Sweden, and in the Mediterranean Sea on the Christina O, the yacht formerly owned by Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy.[9]
Editing started during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, with only the initial 37% of the completed shot footage. Post-production lasted for 22 months overall.
According to the actors, Östlund took, on average, as many as 23 takes for each scene.
The film had its world premiere at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2022, where it won the Palme d'Or. Shortly after, Neon acquired North American distribution rights to the film for a price of $8 million,[10] winning a bidding war against A24, Searchlight Pictures/Hulu, Focus Features and Sony Pictures Classics.
Due to supporting actress Dolly de Leon's newfound fame in the Philippines, TBA Studios acquired exclusive Philippine distribution rights to the film.[11]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 73% of 33 reviews are positive for the film, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's consensus reads, "Triangle of Sadness lacks the sharp edges of Östlund's earlier work, but this blackly humorous swipe at the obscenely affluent has its own rewards".[12] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 15 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".[13]
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Films directed by Ruben Östlund | |
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