Featuring a brilliant cast of characters, Triangle of Sadness is an incisive comedy that successfully makes fun of the elite. Writer-director Ruben Östlund's 2022 movie crams all sorts of bourgeois figures on a luxury cruise trip fated to fail, and through a series of misadventures, offers some of the most uncomfortable scenes ever put onscreen. The cruise ship starts as the perfect mirror for each of its engers' wealth and beauty but is soon replaced by filth and the stench of death. Different from typical "eat the rich" satires, Triangle of Sadness takes a dark turn that deals with bizarre human instincts in extreme situations.
The movie was awarded the most prestigious international prize a film can receive: the Palme d'Or. Östlund effectively knows to play with diverse audiences, which explains why he has received the honor twice, firstly for The Square. Additionally, Triangle of Sadness received three of 2023's most surprising Oscar nominations, including Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. His movies always offer a clash of local and international habits from the elite, with many different languages and traditions taking over the narrative, which explains Triangle of Sadness' multicultural cast.
Harris Dickinson As Carl
While Triangle of Sadness doesn't necessarily have a main character, Harris Dickinson is the actor with the most screen time in the movie, and his character is involved in every major situation of the film. He plays Carl, a ive-aggressive man who doesn't mean to harm anyone but constantly does so, enveloped by a wave of selfishness that his girlfriend is constantly trying to unveil to him. Ruben Östlund, among other acclaimed foreign film directors, takes his time to introduce Dickinson's character, delivering a long introduction in which Carl increasingly grows uneasy at meaningless matters, such as who paid the dinner bill or strangers starring at his girlfriend.
Viewers might know Dickinson from Kingsman franchise, this one led by Dickinson and set in the 1920s. Dickinson is constantly saying that his "goal is to have a laugh" (via The Guardian), and although most of his later roles are very different from one another, they are connected by a peculiar sense of humor.
Charlbi Dean As Yaya
Charlbi Dean plays Yaya, an actress who is just starting to kick off a promising acting career. As with the rest of the Triangle of Sadness cast, you've likely seen Dean before, as she portrayed the assassin Syonide in The CW's Black Lightning. Sadly, Dean ed away in 2022, before she could see Triangle of Sadness' strong international success, but she took part in its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, where the Palme d'Or was announced. Dean was a South African model and began her acting career with the hidden gem Spud, a small franchise that launched pop singer Troye Silvan to the world.
Yaya is Carl's girlfriend and a much more successful model than him, as she states many times throughout the movie. She's obsessed with her own appearance and spends most of her free time, which s for a big chunk of her day, turning her chores into fabricated Instagram posts. Typical of Östlund movies, she's the kind of character who is difficult not to like despite her superficiality. Yaya goes through an incredible arc by Triangle of Sadness's ending when her beauty is no longer useful, and she is forced to show her claws.
Dolly De Leon As Abigail
Dolly De Leon plays Abigail, who abruptly becomes one of the main characters toward the end of the movie. Abigail is an incredible anti-hero: when engers of the cruise are faced with a new harsh reality, she's the only person with the knowledge to keep them alive. She quickly goes from a cruise staff extra to some sort of queen, and just like the others did before, she begins to use her status for her own benefit. De Leon is a Filipino actress better known for local productions such as The Halt and Verdict. Her performance in Triangle of Sadness received international acclaim, earning her BAFTA and Golden Globes nominations.
Woody Harrelson As Captain Thomas Smith
Triangle of Sadness is among Woody Harrelson's best movies, and he gives a fantastic performance as the captain of the filthy-rich cruise ship. But there's a catch: not only is he an uncontrollable alcoholic but also openly refers to himself as a communist. If his drunken personality isn't already hilarious enough, his witty arguments about Marx and capitalism with some of the wealthy engers offer some of the funniest moments of the movie. Each character has their moment to shine in each of Triangle of Sadness' three parts; in the second and most outrageously hilarious part of the movie, Harrelson outperforms everyone around him with his exaggeratedly quirky humor.
Harrelson is the most famous actor in the cast and certainly helped to bring attention to Triangle of Sadness. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which makes him the perfect actor to star in a Ruben Östlund movie. While his movies are undeniably comedies, most of the humor is gradually cooked up, aiming at dry and acidic punch lines.
Triangle Of Sadness ing Cast
Vicki Berlin as Paula: The head of the luxury cruise's staff is played by Vicki Berlin, a Danish actress who adds to the diverse cast of Triangle of Sadness. Her character is responsible for making sure everything is in order, and even though she tries her best, nothing really happens as planned on the cruise. She tirelessly tries to make the captain sober up and is among the small group of characters who make up the film's third act.
Zlatko Burić as Dimitry: Helping to make Triangle of Sadness one of the 2012 and Pusher, a Danish feature in which he stars alongside Mads Mikkelsen.
Henrik Dorsin as Jarmo Björman: Just like Östlund, Dorsin is Swedish and kicked off his career in his home country. He's a respected comedian and singer and has played the lead roles in local movies such as Solsidan and The Jonsson Gang. In Triangle of Sadness, he plays Jarmo, an insecure millionaire who begins an unexpected journey of masculinity and self-discovery on board the cruise.
