‘Triangle of Sadness’ Ending Explained

Swedish director Ruben Östlund has reached new heights of success with his most recent film, Triangle of Sadness. After being a film festival favorite, the movie has secured three Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Triangle of Sadness is a hilarious and poignant satire about class disparity starring Woody Harrelson, Harris Dickinson, Dolly De Leon, and the late Charlbi Dean. The film is an unpredictable rollercoaster ride that starts in the runway fashion world, moves to a luxurious yacht trip, and ends up being a fight for survival on a deserted island. All three chapters of the story lead to a suspenseful and ambiguous ending. Even after a long runtime, once the screen cuts to black, you can’t help but want more. Östlund cleverly leaves the finale open to the audience’s interpretation, posing a great moral question, not just to the characters but to the audience too.

What Is ‘Triangle of Sadness’ About?

The first part of the film follows the supermodel couple, Yaya (Dean) and Carl (Dickinson). We see a rare power imbalance between them because Yaya is more successful and rich, while Carl’s masculinity is threatened by not being able to pay for things. Even though the dynamic makes Carl irate, Yaya adds fuel to the fire by manipulating the situation to fall more in her favor. They quickly realize that they have fun together and their little quarrels are pointless. Their relationship is primarily a strategic publicity move for both of them to grow their Instagram following anyway. Yaya’s status as a prominent model and influencer lands her many free perks that Carl also gets to enjoy, including an all-expenses-paid trip on a luxury cruise.

Yaya and Carl meet a bunch of eccentric and disgustingly rich people on the ship, which is led by the usually intoxicated captain (Harrelson). Östlund makes a point to highlight the hierarchy of the boat, which consists of the passengers, the on-deck staff, and at the very bottom are the cleaners and kitchen workers. The film kicks into high gear when the ship is met with rough waters, causing a hyperbolic level of seasickness among all the passengers. The drunk, Russian capitalist takes over the loudspeaker and tells everyone the boat is sinking. Panic ensues while the guests are spewing from both ends, but the cleaning staff is just left to scrub out the vomit stains. In a brilliantly ironic turn of events, the boat does not sink; it gets attacked by pirates. The exuberant wealth on the yacht was probably quite the jackpot for those men. That leaves the remaining survivors of the shipwreck to be washed up on a deserted island.

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The class wars begin when all the snobbish rich islanders are completely void of any kind of survival skills. They entirely rely on the knowledge of Abigail (De Leon), one of the boat’s house cleaners, to keep them fed and alive. Abigail owns her newfound authority and uses it to her advantage, as she should. The rest of the group is at her mercy, bringing Abigail to the top of the power pyramid. Carl and Abigail form a transactional relationship; he gets a comfortable sleep and pretzel sticks, and she gets all of her…needs met. Yaya is jealous and threatened by the new couple. It’s the first time someone who looks like her is put in second place. This creates an unspoken rivalry between Yaya and Abigail.

Does Abigail Kill Yaya at the End of ‘Triangle of Sadness’?

In the last sequence of the Triangle of Sadness, Abigail insists on joining Yaya on a hike to the other side of the island. They’re on the lookout for help, food, or shelter, but they stumble across a pot of gold. Unbeknownst to them, a high-end resort is nested in the mountainside opposite them. Upon finding this, Yaya takes a moment to soak in the beautiful irony. All of the tension and competition between her and Abigail melts away, for her at least. Out of sight, Abigail picks up a big rock and inches closer to the back of Yaya’s head. Abigail knows that as soon as they all get off this island and back to the real world, she’s back to being marginalized and mistreated. Just before Abigail can strike, the shot cuts to black. We briefly see Carl running through the jungle, and then the movie ends.

Director Ruben Östlund Lets the Audience Finish the Movie

What could seem like an unfair cliffhanger ending is actually an ingenious device to put the audience into both characters’ shoes. The most straightforward way to fill in the blanks is in a Sopranos-like fashion by assuming Abigail does kill Yaya. In fact, they even allude to that ending earlier in the film when another islander, Jorma, brutally kills a donkey with a rock. Instead, Östlund leaves what happens after the fade to black in the hands of each individual audience member. What seems like intentional ambiguity is actually a calculated misdirect into your own philosophy. In that very last moment, as a viewer, you can either understand Abigail’s urge to kill Yaya or be unequivocally against it. You complete the narrative. The ending is not about whether Yaya survives or not, if Carl finds them in time, or if the others get rescued too, it is to pose a great question about morality.

Östlund’s keen directorial approach takes center stage by pulling the audience in as the final piece of the story. This unflinching and biting satire is present in the director’s earlier works, such as Force Majeure and The Square, and has since become an identifiable benchmark of his work. Beyond the ambiguity that is left behind as the credits roll, the ending is boosted by Dean and De Leon’s subtle but powerful performances, both conveying a million messages with few words. Between Yaya’s unbridled delight at finding the elevator to the resort and Abigail’s visible panic, the discordance in the scene is palpable. The performance of both stars is worthy of applause throughout The Triangle of Sadness‘ 147 minute runtime, but especially profound in the final moments as it leaves the audience feeling pity for both characters. When Yaya states, “I can try and help you,” offering Abigail a position as her assistant when all is said and done, the heft and weight of her words leap out of the screen and doubles down the fact that the story can end either way. On one hand, if Abigail accepts the offer – Yaya survives. On the other hand, this reinforces Abigail’s fears of returning to a life of servitude once they are rescued. It also teases a character growth in Yaya and the idea that she could return to the real world a better person. However, the fact that this growth could end before it fully blooms is in line with how the movie’s plot unravels, with nothing happening as one would predict or expect.

What makes the final sequence particularly interesting is that as this unfolds, Therese (Iris Berben) is also learning that they are not alone on the beach as she comes in contact with a vendor from the resort. As a result, even if Yaya never makes it back to the camp, Abigail’s throne will topple eventually and it’ll happen soon. Regardless of how the story unfolds, Carl’s hurried and frantic steps as he chases after both ladies re-invites the viewers to be participants in how the story ends. We decide if he reaches them in time, or if he is running to them at all. We sit with the power of having the final say. As De Leon states in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the audience can be trusted “to come up with their own ending.”

Triangle of Sadness is currently available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.

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