American tennis player Bill Tilden once said: ‘Never change a winning game’. So Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund did exactly that and secured his second Palme d’Or in Cannes.
Five years ago, the director of “Force Majeure” (2014) triumphed at the Cannes Film Festival with “The Square”, starring Elisabeth Moss and Dominic West, which poked fun at the exclusive contemporary art world. Fast forward a few editions of the event, which returned after two years of turbulence caused by the global pandemic, Östlund aimed, once again, at those with more money than sense. Welcome to “Triangle Of Sadness”, a satirical comedy unceremoniously targeting the shallowness and obnoxious entitlement of the obscenely rich – and cleverly named after the term given to the frown lines between your eyebrows.
“When we started to make this film I think we had one goal – to really, really try to make an exciting film for the audience and bring thought-provoking content. We wanted to entertain them, we wanted them to ask themselves questions, we wanted them to after the screening go out and have something to talk about.” – says the 48-year-old filmmaker.
The two-and-a-half hour long film, starring Harris Dickinson, Charlbli Dean and Woody Harrelson, features the saga of eight people from a luxury cruise liner that end up stranded on a desert island and have to face unexpected events. Although lengthy for a comedy – and sometimes slipping into a sitcom mode – the warm reception of Ostlund’s film, when it was screened during the first week of the festival, was an indicator that it could become the winner of the coveted Palme d’Or this year.
“The first Palme d’Or can be an accident, but the second really means something.” – says Ruben Ostlund. “My first time In Competition, everything was new for me, and I didn’t take advantage of it. This time, I’m with friends, with the team, so I’m very happy. At the time I had the impression that auteur filmmaking had become boring. I had the idea of taking up the important themes of our time in a context that makes audiences want to watch the film. We bring the audience in to discuss important themes. The most important question is that of responsibility: how do we build a society together? – questions the film director.
There were 21 films in the competition this year for the 75th edition of the festival, including David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the future” and James Gray’s “Armageddon Time”. The awards were selected by a nine-member jury headed by French actor Vincent Lindon and presented Saturday in a closing ceremony inside the Grand Lumière Theater, in Cannes.
The jury’s second prize, the grand prix, was shared between director Claire Denis’ romantic thriller “Stars at Noon”, starring Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn, and Lukas Dhont’s tender boyhood drama “Close”.
“I’m very honoured to win this prize with this film. It’s a very important film for me. After Girl, I wanted to speak of the subject of a film with the same intensity. It talks about very personal things. I wanted to make these emotions universal. It’s always a very fragile moment, sharing something with the public when you have put everything inside it. I tried to remain faithful to myself while trying to challenge myself to do even better. There’s a great desire to make films. I hope that, in the future, my films will be just as warmly received.” – celebrated Dhont.
Here are all the winners of the Cannes Film Festival in 2022:
Palme d’Or
Triangle Of Sadness, dir: Ruben Ostlund
Grand Prize (TIE)
Stars At Noon, dir: Claire Denis
Close, dir: Lukas Dhont
Best Director
Park Chan-wook, Decision To Leave
Special 75th Anniversary Prize
Tori And Lokita, dirs: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Jury Prize (TIE)
EO, dir: Jerzy Skolimowski
The Eight Mountains, dirs: Felix Van Groeningen & Charlotte Vandermeersch
Best Actor
Song Kang-ho, Broker
Best Screenplay
Tarik Saleh, Boy From Heaven
Best Actress
Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Holy Spider
Camera d’Or
War Pony, dirs: Riley Keough & Gina Gammell
Camera d’Or Special Mention
Plan 75, dir: Chie Hayakawa
Short Film Palme d’Or
The Water Murmurs, dir: Jianying Chen