2022 Cannes Critics’ Panel: Day 5 – Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness

With perhaps far more time in post than the other films vying for the Palme this year, Ruben Östlund goes off the deep end offering a new take on Lord of the Flies by way of Triangle of Sadness. Östlund has been a mainstay in Cannes since debuting Involuntary (2008) in the Un Certain Regard, following that up with Play (Director’s Fortnight) in 2011, winning the Un Certain Regard Grand Jury prize for Force Majeure in 2014, and of course landing the Palme d’Or for The Square. Could he be collecting his second?

While no human was safe in his other films, Östlund does more than give his ship and passenger crew more than sea sickness — he throws them overboard and then some. Taking jabs at privilege, this lab rat experiment is chaptered out in events — with shallow souls (Harris Dickinson, Charlbi Dean) meeting drunken ship folk (Woody Harrelson) and true entrepreneuring hard-workers (Dolly De Leon).

The world premiere just dropped two hours ago and the grid has been electrified. More than half of the scores will begin to trickle in but we have a frontrunner from the former Palme winner. With an average score of 3.5, this might finish in the top five best graded films of the fest. We’ll receive more updates later tonite!

Click on the grid below for a larger version and latest updates!