Ruben Östlund’s film “Triangle of Sadness” gave him his second Palme d’Or, during the awards ceremony of the 75th international film festival, Cannes, southern France, placing him among the few who have won the coveted prize twice.
His first win was in 2017 for the film “The Square”.
Speaking to CNA, the Writer/Director talks about his movie, the people he has chosen and how he handles life and the art he creates, remarking that people work together in extreme cases and his optimism tells him that our strongest feature is that humans can work with each other.
The movie is a delightful, enjoyable yet dramatic and satirical comedy about a rich group of people and their servants, whose luxurious cruise trip turns into a nightmare, with black humour scenes and added adventure.
Asked about the scene where actor Zlatko Buric, who portrays Dimitri, the communist capitalist, discusses with Woody Harrelson, the captain of the yacht, about Karl Marx, Ostlund says that Buric is an actor from the former Yugoslav Republic and has great experience on the issue. His humour, says Östlund, has a socio-political foundation, particularly from countries like Croatia noting he enjoys this kind of humour from people from east European countries.
This humour also derives from his upbringing, Ostlund remarks and reveals that his mother in the 1960s was a faithful communist who still believed in the eastern bloc even though it ceased to exist while his brother turned into a conservative rightist. “You cannot confuse Russia with the Soviet Union. I was brought up in an east-west environment. Therefore, I was studying the politics of Marx and (Ronald) Reegan. Reegan was a very funny guy. Socialism works only in Paradise where it already exists as well as in Hell, where it is unnecessary”, he tells CNA.
Ostlund answers he is not afraid of turning into a conservative. “I am not, although I am conservative in many other things. Marx has said many things that are true and others which are not right. We must not forget that he was one of the founders of sociology and sociologists study human behaviour and are aware of Marx’s ideas which they use them to develop their views and become successful capitalists”, Ostlund remarks.
Today, he adds, we have a more serious outlook on society than rich capitalists who like to flaunt their luxury and wealth.
To a remark that he has taken a stance in favour of equality of sexes in the movie industry, Ostlund says he has indeed and explains that his wife, who also works in the industry, has told him about the situation which women face and that men get paid almost twice as much as women and the same happens with male models who can use sex as a negotiating tool. “If they sleep with a powerful homosexual industry executive, this might open up a whole lot of opportunities for them. Therefore, when I was writing this script, I wanted to portray what might happen to women in our world. It was an important starting point for a debate on the issue”, he says.
Ostlund also says his film is about what is happening in our time. “I was really impressed that left- wing French reporters did not like my movie, but right-wing newspapers enjoyed it. It was absurd. But I understand. What they were thinking is, what do you expect millionaires to do? Give their money to charity? Why not? That way they help! That’s how they believe the system will change. The left wing has forgotten about Marx. They have fallen in the trap of believing that our problems concern individuals only. Both left people in Europe and Americans describe the system in the same way. In many American movies we see a bad capitalist whom when we get rid of, life goes on without a problem”.
What if you had Dimitri’s millions, what would you do with it, Ostlund is asked by CNA. I would probably do the same things. I would do various things to feel good and have a sense of offering but in reality, I wouldn’t be any better”, he replies.
About the characters in the movie, Ostlund says he portrays them as they are. “Polite to all, even to the servants, helpful like Dimitri, the Russian communist-capitalist. He is to me the nicest person in the film. The English couple is also likable. They say they help maintain democracy in the world and then explain that they make grenades for wars which…. save us”, he chuckles.
Ostlund is invited to comment about the cleaner of the yacht who gives the impression she becomes worse than anyone when she attains power. “Yes, when she takes power, she starts to abuse it. It is a risk for anyone who gains power. It is difficult to talk about equality and inequality. My mother, a communist, for instance, said that when we become a socialist society, then we are all equal. But things are not that simple. I read the book of an economist professor who compared inequality to gravity. When you throw a stone it will fall, if you create equality and leave it, it will fall down and create inequality, he remarks.
Asked what inspired him about making a movie on a luxury yacht, Ostlund says he wanted “something entertaining, to have people experiencing three stages: the world of fashion, a yacht and a deserted island. And to examine social structures and overturn them when they reach the deserted island. That made sense to me”.
Ostlund is asked if he thought about the movie “Lord of the Flies”, a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding which concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves.
“No, the author Breckman had written a book where he deconstructed the “Lord of the Flies” because he gave a false picture of what happens when we are on a deserted island. Because in extreme cases we begin to work together, not clash.I am a very optimistic person and believe that our strongest feature as humans is that we can work together. And this is what is happening on the island, when conflict makes things dangerous the best thing is to work together. If you remove clashes, then you create new hierarchies”.
Asked what made him film the third part of the movie at Evia Island, in Greece, Ostlund notes the Greek company that co-produced the movie suggested so. “It is a wonderful place but a little bit tricky because it was tourist season and during filming there was anarchy”, he says which however was sorted out by the people in charge.
“The people in the village were excellent. The area is wonderful, even if you fall from the sky and land there, there are grapes, there are wild hogs, you have what you need to survive. The scenery is wonderful. Fortunately, we managed to shoot because Greece was in lockdown due to the pandemic”, Ostlund says.
To a question if sarcasm and irony are the only means to handle stupidness, Ostlund replies that as Michael Haneke (Austrian film director and screenwriter) said when he was making “Happy End”, you can only describe people today with lies. “You cannot make drama. When I recently watched the movie «Don’t Look Up», I said to myself that reality is even worse! The first part of the movie takes place in the fashion world and there is a cynicism disguised in optimism. We declare that we support climate change but at the same time we say “buy our products”. For instance, look at the internet and the various platforms. We believe that we promote our views, but in reality, we are serving the various platforms”.
Ostlund is asked if he wanted to provoke with his movie, only to reply “no, provocation is tiring. If you want to say something, to criticise, then you should do it as best as you can without intervention”.
Asked if he is interested as a filmmaker to capture the existing political and social situation and how it develops, Ostlund replies that recreation is something interesting. “In this dirty work we do, we have to discuss and present what is happening in society, in the military for instance, that you sacrifice yourself for your country, or for Tom Cruise or for whatever”.
Source: Cyprus News Agency