We first spoke with Ruben Östlund via Zoom in November 2020. He had just finished filming Triangle of Sorrow and was relaxing wrapped in his bathrobe on the sunny balcony at Katakolo Ilia. A lot has happened since then, most notably the second consecutive Palme d’Or, which the Swedish director won at the last Cannes Film Festival. His merciless social satire seemed rude to someone, but for him something different, unexpected or playful – that’s what his work is.

After all, this was one of the reasons why he chose Greece for a significant part of the filming of Trigonos: “We needed some kind of island. We originally planned to return to Thailand, we had a related trip, but there was something boring, corny about this whole tropical island idea. Then the Greek co-producers (including Heretic), with whom we had the perfect collaboration in general, suggested Chiliadou in Evia. It was a fantastic place to really survive an emergency, with fresh water, olives, grapes and even wild boars all around,” Östlund tells us.

… Survival concerns the shipwreck of a luxury yacht that ends up on the deserted beach of Chiliados in the third and final part of the film. However, it all starts with Carl and Yaya, famous models who also take part in the cruise, without, of course, having the financial surface of their super-rich fellow travelers. “My wife is a fashion photographer and she told me some really funny stories from the modeling world. Personally, I am very interested in the idea of ​​beauty as a kind of “currency”. Money, education, etc. can be used to move up the social hierarchy, however, beauty can also give you a free pass. It’s also interesting that modeling is one of the few professions where men are paid five to six times less than women.”

This balance and dynamics of the relationship between the two sexes is another theme that Östlund clearly occupies. “When I write scripts for my films, I collect ideas left and right, anything that can come up, either from my own experience or from my friends. Basically I try to talk about everyday events that can be emotionally significant at the same time. I also love dilemmas. For example, the restaurant scene with Yaya and Carl. When the bill arrives, he tells her that he promised to pay her but didn’t make the move. This is also a stage in their relationship. Should he have said it or not?”

I tend to talk about events from everyday life that can be emotionally significant at the same time.

Beyond any battle of the sexes, even more valuable here is the satirical commentary on class inequality and the paranoia that accompanies it. On a luxury yacht, an American Marxist—drunk Captain Woody Harrelson—exchanges delightful arguments with a Russian oligarch. However, after an explosive (literally) night, everything is turned upside down, and the Filipino janitor is now taking over the reins of survival on the beach, as we mentioned above. Almost like a social experiment.

Hierarchies

“It’s actually a very simple story. The difference between my films and sociology is that in my own research, I decide the outcome. Obviously, I write fiction, I’m not a scientist. However, in such a situation, hierarchies are created. The cleaning lady knows how to fish and make a fire, so she goes straight upstairs. Billionaires, for their part, are starting to say that everything should be divided equally … ”Estlund notes with a smile.

Does he think that this kind of individualism and inequality is the biggest problem in the world today? “It’s interesting that we almost lost the idea of ​​working as a community. Sometimes this happens digitally, but these are very small pockets. There are large corporations that today are more powerful than the largest states. It’s all scary, I can understand why young people lose interest in politics. Politicians themselves cannot decide exactly what is happening. On the other hand, as a Scandinavian, I strongly believe in the concept of the state. Lack of trust in the state is perhaps the biggest problem. What we have lost is this sense of common agreement, “the market,” he concludes, referring to the Greek term “agora.”