When Swedish director Ruben Östlund was growing up, family dinners were a lively affair.  ‘During the 60s, my mother became a part of the left-wing movement, and she’s one of the few that still calls herself a communist. And in my home, when my brother grew up, he became a right-wing conservative.’  He was caught between these ‘constant ideological battles’, he says, as his mother argued for a socialist utopia. 

This political battleground unquestionably feeds into his new film, the astounding, prize-winning satire Triangle Of Sadness. Set around an elite cruise for the super-wealthy (oligarchs, weapons dealers, supermodels, tech moguls), the captain of this luxury ship is a Marxism-spouting drunk, played by Woody Harrelson. Yet this is not a dry film about debating differing ideologies but a scathing study of human nature and the delicate hierarchies we form.  

A brutal storm sees the passengers throw up their haute-cuisine meal in one of the most deliciously excessive scenes of vomiting since Mr Creosote exploded on his wafer-thin mint in Monty Python’s Meaning Of Life. Then the ship sinks, leaving survivors on a desert island where the only person who knows how to fish is the super-yacht’s toilet cleaner Abigail (Dolly De Leon). The power dynamic soon shifts as Abigail becomes master of the island, even demanding sexual favours from male model Carl (Harris Dickinson).

The film, which loosely recalls 1957 comedy The Admirable Crichton, has already won this year’s top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, which puts Östlund in that rarefied group of directors who have won two Palmes d’Or. His previous film, 2017’s art-world take-down The Square, also claimed the coveted award; in the aftermath, the Swede met plenty of wealthy people, doubtlessly planting seeds for this follow-up. ‘I think that people automatically read that I hate rich people,’ he warns. ‘No, I am equally as hard on the poor as I am on the rich.’ 

Still, Östlund has more respect for ‘the old bourgeoise’ than new money and the way it’s blatantly flaunted. ‘When I was 12 years old, I was in Copenhagen with my father, and I wanted to go and look at a car. We thought it was a Rolls-Royce, but it didn’t have the figure on the front. They had unscrewed it because people were spitting on the car. Back then you didn’t show off your wealth. Today, showing off wealth is how you position yourself.’

Sitting in a tranquil garden during Cannes, Östlund is just a few hundred yards away from the Martinez Hotel, where he had an argument with his then-girlfriend, now-wife. After he paid for several dinners, she said she’d get the next one, only to slyly let him pick up the bill. It precipitated a revealing row that lasted into the wee small hours, a breakthrough moment in their relationship. ‘You become completely transparent,’ he says, ‘and you dare to talk to each other without trying to show your best self; then you also reach each other in a different way.’

This delicious, prickly conflict found its way into Triangle Of Sadness, another example of Östlund’s willingness to self-lacerate. After making several documentaries and shorts, plus a couple of little-seen features, his 2014 international breakthrough Force Majeure detailed the fall-out from an avalanche, when a father impulsively abandons his family. Reassured he’d be up for an Academy Award, he and his producer decided to film a reaction video as the nominations were announced. When it was overlooked, they turned it into a YouTube sensation: Swedish director freaks out when he misses out on Oscar. ‘Dark humour becomes a tool to do something fun,’ he shrugs.

Yet even with this wry approach to life and work, some things are inexplicable. Three months after we meet, the Triangle team were left utterly shocked by the death of Charlbi Dean, who plays Yaya, the supermodel/influencer girlfriend to Dickinson’s Carl. The 32-year-old South African died suddenly after being admitted into a New York hospital at the end of August, shortly before the movie was due to make its North American bow at the Toronto International Film Festival. ‘The thought that she will not be by our side in the future makes me very sad,’ Östlund wrote on Instagram. 

Östlund’s dignified response was well-judged, in an arena that can often be otherwise. As anyone who sees his film will realise, the vapidity of social media is another target. Back in 2020, he was left outraged by people posting black squares on their feeds in support of Black Lives Matter. ‘If you didn’t do it, you’re a mean, cold-hearted person.’ But as he insists, the reality is people were simply providing free content for platforms that are making millions. ‘And we think we are positioning ourselves with good thoughts.’ In today’s politically correct minefield, Östlund feels like the perfect guide.

Triangle Of Sadness is in cinemas from Friday 28 October.