The intriguingly (and, it turns out, quite wonderfully) titled Triangle Of Sadness takes audiences on an exhilaratingly anarchic journey as it documents the trials of the super wealthy, before, during and after a turbulent cruise. Force Majeure’s Ruben Östlund is the mischief maker behind this irresistible onslaught of schadenfreude, steering the group right into the eye of a storm with transparent glee.

The winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes (the Swedish director’s second, following his 2017 art-world takedown The Square) follows a young, pretty and pretty obnoxious couple into this privileged sphere. They are moderately successful male model Carl (nicely judged work from rising British star Harris Dickinson) and his model/influencer girlfriend Yaya (the talented Charlbi Dean, who sadly died earlier this year aged just 32). We see the pair squabbling over money at the outset before they join the aforementioned luxury cruise.

Woody Harrelson has a blast as the hard-drinking Marxist captain who forms an enjoyably unlikely bromance with Russian agricultural giant Dimitry, played by Zlatko Burić. Meanwhile, Vicki Berlin and Dolly De Leon do fine work as, respectively, the crew’s (rich) people-pleasing boss Paula (who is a little too in love with her own authority) and the hidden-from-sight toilet manager Abigail, who really comes into her own once the shit hits the fan.

Östlund is a superb, merciless satirist whose flair for hypocrisy-exposing concepts and ability to take down his targets is virtually unmatched in modern cinema. In a film populated by grotesques, he may sometimes hammer his points home; yet he’s invariably on the money, particularly with a pitch-perfect execution of a disastrous captain’s dinner which is spectacularly, unforgettably funny. He’s a director that likes his films long, but even at two and a half hours, Triangle Of Sadness is extraordinarily entertaining.

Triangle Of Sadness screens at the London Film Festival on Wednesday 12 October; in cinemas and on Curzon On Demand from Friday 28 October.