Triangle of Sadness

What’s it about?

Yaya and Carl are beautiful yet superficial models, who appear to be together to boost their Instagram followers. When they’re gifted a trip on a superyacht things turn ugly in this satire on wealth, influencers, capitalism and class structure.

Triangle of Sadness won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival 2022.

The facts

• Director and screenwriter: Ruben Östlund
• Runtime: 147 minutes
• English language
• Premiered in Aotearoa at Whānau Mārama New Zealand International Film Festival

Why did it get this rating?

The content of the film makes it more suitable for older viewers. It is classified as unrestricted but recommended as suitable for mature audiences aged 16 and over.

Sex scenes

The film features one sex scene that doesn’t show close-up detail but may confuse younger viewers.

Offensive language

The film is dialogue-heavy and there are occasional uses of highly offensive language such as “f**k” and “sh*t” being used for emphasis or as an exclamation.

Animal cruelty

An inexperienced character makes a nervous attempt at killing a donkey for food. He clumsily bashes the animal with a large rock. The impact of the blow is not seen and the donkey continues to cry out in a distressing manner. The animal is eventually killed by the character repeatedly bashing it with the rock (which is not shown in detail). The character is shown to be traumatised by his actions and is comforted by other characters.

Content that may disturb

During a rolling storm passengers on the luxury yacht experience food poisoning and/or seasickness. Scenes of over the top toilet humour show passengers projectile-vomiting, as well as being caught in flooding from overflowing toilets. The scenes invite viewers to laugh at their suffering and misfortune.