In Ruben Östlund’s wickedly funny Palme d’Or winner, social hierarchy is
turned upside down, revealing the tawdry relationship between power and
beauty. Celebrity model couple, Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya
(Charlbi Dean), are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed
by an unhinged boat captain (Woody Harrelson). What first appeared
instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a
desert island and fighting for survival.
What the critics are saying:
An absurd, iconoclastic riot. Ruben Östlund’s point may be blunt — yep,
rich people are bad — but his telling of it is hilariously, breathlessly
entertaining.
Ruben Östlund’s latest brainy satire is a continually self-renewing yet uncompromisingly coherent opus.
Yes, the metaphor can seem very on-the-nose: the
super rich, in this economic climate especially, are obscene and
repulsive! But it's a film of great subtlety (really) and benefits from
multiple viewings.