Film

Triangle of Sadness

Name: Triangle of Sadness
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2022
Cast: Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean, Dolly de Leon, Woody Harrelson, Zlatko Burić

Comedy

Ruben Östlund's Palme d'Or winner skewers beauty, money and manners in three escalating acts: a model couple's transactional romance, a luxury cruise that curdles into disaster, then a desert island where survival skill quietly rewrites who's in charge. It's a slow-building comedy that turns genuinely vicious and viscerally gross. Best for anyone who enjoys watching the rich humiliated at length, in close-up, for a very long time.

TMDb rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy satire that bites hard at class and vanity, with a cruel sense of set-piece comedy and characters you enjoy despising.

Skip it if you find long stretches of petty status squabbling wearing, since at 147 minutes the mockery loops and some of its jokes land heavy-handed.

What it asks of you: It is long and deliberately uneven in tone, lingering on its setups before lurching sharply between wit and nausea, so it rewards patience and a stomach for both.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Menu2022

A chef exacts precise, escalating revenge on his wealthy diners in one of the sharpest, funniest class satires of recent years — controlled where Triangle of Sadness is chaotic.

But Tighter and meaner than a farce — this is a thriller with a scalpel, not a slapstick comedy with a mop.

Parasite2019

The same DNA — hierarchy exposed and inverted under pressure — but reworked as a nearly flawless thriller with tonal swings that will leave you breathless.

But Far tighter and more suspenseful; the satire is present but subtler, and there's no vomiting anywhere in sight.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery2022

A tech billionaire's private island, a cast of vapid rich fools, and a whodunit that has real fun skewering their absurdity.

But Cozier and more crowd-pleasing — a puzzle box with a happy ending rather than a bleak descent into anarchy.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Triangle of Sadness

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Force Majeure2014

Same director, same obsession: watching a crisis peel civility off people in real time. This is Östlund working in miniature, years before he scaled the idea up to a cruise ship.

Östlund's earlier, smaller film does the same trick — a crisis (here, an avalanche at a ski resort) that instantly strips a man of his dignity and exposes the fault lines in a marriage.

But Quiet, domestic, and slow — no ensemble spectacle, no vomit, just one family's unraveling in close-up.

The White Lotus2021

A luxury resort, oblivious guests, resentful staff — the same delicious tension between service and entitlement, stretched across a whole season.

But Slower and soapier, with more interpersonal drama than physical chaos or outright gross-out comedy.

Succession2018

Ruthless, hilarious, and precise about how the extremely rich talk themselves out of any human feeling — the verbal equivalent of the yacht scene.

But All boardrooms and dinner tables, no shipwrecks or islands — the warfare here is entirely psychological.

Ready or Not2019

A bride hunted through a mansion by her monstrous new in-laws — gleeful, bloody contempt for old money, played almost entirely for laughs.

But A straight-up horror-comedy with none of the arthouse ambition — pure genre pleasure, nothing more.

The Hunt2020

Elites literally hunting the less fortunate for sport — a blunt, bloody satire of class and politics that doesn't pretend to subtlety.

But More action movie than comedy of manners, and its satire lands with a hammer rather than a scalpel.

Knives Out2019

A family of entitled monsters circling an inheritance, skewered with real affection for the genre and a satisfying sense of justice.

But Warmer and gentler than Östlund's world — it wants you to leave feeling good, not queasy.

Snowpiercer2013

Class hierarchy as brutal physical geography — a train instead of a yacht, but the same rigid order waiting to be violently overturned.

But Grim sci-fi action with almost no comedy — a much colder, more punishing watch throughout.

The Rules of the Game1939

This is the film Triangle of Sadness descends from: manners and hierarchy exposed through farce that curdles into something genuinely cruel, one dinner party at a time.

Renoir's country-house farce — aristocrats and servants colliding at a weekend party — is the blueprint every modern eat-the-rich satire is quietly copying.

But Black and white, French, and nearly ninety years old — the rhythms take patience if you're used to modern pacing.

Dead Poets Society1989

Same target, pushed further: where Triangle of Sadness turns wealth's rot into vomit-comedy, this turns it into full-blown gore. The trashier cousin of the same idea.

A cult body-horror satire in which Beverly Hills' elite are revealed, quite literally, to be monstrous — gross, gleeful, and unforgettable practical effects.

But Cheap, campy, and genuinely disgusting — a different budget and a much less serious register entirely.