Ruben Östlund wants his next film to cause the biggest walk out in Cannes history
Ruben Östlund’s English-language debut, Triangle of Sadness, has received significant critical acclaim this awards season, scooping up three Academy Award nominations for ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Original Screenplay’.
The satirical black comedy follows a selection of affluent and out-of-touch cruise passengers as they find themselves caught in an intense storm. Östlund’s film pokes fun at the 1% and their hypocrisy, taking a swipe at capitalist structures and how gender roles operate within them. Triangle of Sadness took home to Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival, an accolade that Östlund also won for his 2017 film The Square.
In a new podcast episode from Variety Awards Circuit, Östlund discusses his film and plans for his next feature. Referring to the film’s vomit scene, he states: “I actually wrote in the script that I’m going to go 10 steps forward than the audience expects me to go.” The director proves that he is unafraid to cause controversy with his work, even going as far as to claim that he wants his next film to cause the biggest walkout that Cannes has ever seen.
So far, Gaspar Noé’s 2003 psychological thriller Irréversible is considered one of Cannes’ most controversial films, with its ten-minute rape scene causing 250 people to leave the screening. However, Östlund wants his film to drive people to walk out for other reasons. He said: “I think it’s going to be more provocative than any violent, any disturbing content.”
According to the director, his next film, The Entertainment System is Down, a dark comedy set on a plane, is about “modern human beings that are have to deal with boredom and their own thoughts”. He plans to include a scene where a child cannot use his brother’s iPad, forcing him – and us – to wait five minutes until it’s available. “I want to challenge the audience. You stay with the kid in real time. And he’s looking in the catalog, putting it back and the restlessness is coming. So he asks his mother, ‘How much do we have left?’ And she says, ‘Well, now it’s four minutes and 45 seconds, you have to calm down.”
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