Get Our Privilege in Check through Satire of The Rich (and The Snob)
The year 2022 has been an awesome year for films. In the last December 2022, I planned to watch The Menu but I failed. However, I got lucky to watch Triangle of Sadness in the cinema with my partner. Somehow, the ticket was cheap for few weeks. And now, The Menu is already available on streaming so I watched it during the weekend.
The Menu is one of the movie that I anticipated in 2022, I think it’s a different kind of thriller that intertwined with culinary stories. Triangle of Sadness got quite a lot of hype from most media outlet I followed, so I just came into the movie without much expectations and it paid off.
This is a spoiler post.
It’s great to see more satire stories about the world we are living today. For me, The Menu and Triangle of Sadness have some similarities on dissecting the rich. However, they respectively cultivate their own road on presenting a thought-provoking art.
If you like thriller, The Menu should be enjoyed as the entree. If you are more into comedy, Triangle of Sadness will feel like a joyful mix-plater.
The one thing that I actually like the most from both, is a good enough representation of service industry. And somehow, whatever service industry we are in. The Menu brings us into the kitchen and fine dining world. And then, Triangle of Sadness shows us multiple perspective on hospitality and tourism world.
The Satire
Both film present us with a truly timely satire of our recent times. In Triangle of Sadness, we first got introduced with Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (the late Charlbi Dean) the model/influencer couple. We learned un-healthy dynamic of the heavily-transactional relationship due to their high social status. However, Carl still insist that they can have a healthier love relationship and then they go on a paid-cruise in the yacht with the ultra-rich.
One of my favorite and heartbreaking moment was in the part where Carl got insecure with one of the yacht-crew that was quite shaped, good-looking, and saying “hi” to him and Yaya. Carl insecurities led him to talk with one of the crew lead, Paula (portrayed wonderfully by Vicky Berlin). This little complain actually led to the dismissal of that yacht-crew. It got me retrospective to remind myself of my privilege when I go to restaurant or a hotel. We never know that our little complain might get somebody else to lose a job.
In the yacht, we learned about other notable characters. The Russian boss, the tech boss, and the weapon boss. I really like how the struggle of yacht-crew is shown in this film. And even in the yacht, there is also a class segregation. The officers of course seems to be in higher status than the cleaners and the mechanics. The film managed to show the contrast that the officers can think about money and tips and the cleaners are pushed to clean many shits quickly and got disrespected by the guests.
However, we knew that the guests in the yacht are truly the ultra-rich. The rich disrespect the crews with their narrow perspective and self-centered ego. Especially knowing that most of people in the service industry need to first answer with “yes”. The dynamic are greatly shown in the trailer:
The surprise in the yacht is added with the irony of The Captain. The viewers didn’t see The Captain until around the middle of the movie. The Captain described himself as an American socialist, while he worked in the yacht for the ultra-rich. And he actually planned the Captain’s Dinner event to be held in the night of the worst weather forecast. It then followed by the chaos of seasickness in the yacht. I like how the chaos is portrayed in the film but it might be disturbing for some people due to a lot of puke. Haha.
Let’s slide a bit to The Menu. The Menu showed its exclusiveness from the start by showing a short boat trip to a private island. We got introduced briefly to Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Tyler (Nicholas Hoult). And then we got quicker introduction to other characters. In some way, I feel a unique similarities between the two film (probably because of the exploration of the service industry). Elsa (Hong Chau), the maitre d’restaurant, feels like Paula in the yacht. The one leader that tirelessly ensuring all things are in order. However, Elsa is a much more menacing character and raise up the suspenseful feeling in the film before the main act (The Chef) turned up.
If Triangle of Sadness deliver the satire in a more humorous way, The Menu sprinkles a lot of saltiness in a good way. Those two are great. The scenes of the rich, and the additional snob in the case of The Menu, truly invites the audience to punch them in the face.
One of the hard-hitting scene is when one of the guest said that he just came there so at least he can say that he had been there, in one evening of a fine dining. And then the part when Tyler man-splaining Margot about “the concept” and “the chef is a storyteller”. Continued with the striking similarities how the privileged customer didn’t like to get a “no” from the service provider. It’s fascinating how some sick characteristic like that can be filmed in a different way in Triangle of Sadness (pool scene) and The Menu (asking for bread scene).
It doesn’t take long for The Menu to show us that the rich guests are actually the conceptual menu carefully crafted by Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes). Slowik prepared the night since quite a long time to ensure all the guests got what they deserved. However, the presence of the enigmatic Margot distracted Slowik and also Elsa. Her presence raised the question, is she part of the menu or is she part of the “crew”?
In the storytelling part of both films, I really like how both can provoke the audience’s thoughts. And even more to laugh. Just like what the Triangle of Sadness director, Ruben Östlund, said:
…because now when people laugh about that and feel recognition in that, you feel closer to other human being.
And I guess it’s really true that everyone knows someone like Tyler.
The Cheeseburger
This one will be spoiler-heavy.
The surprising element of the movie for me actually is the cheeseburger. Because I watched Triangle of Sadness first, at the beginning it doesn’t seem important. But, probably it’s one food that might be easily relate to many people. In Triangle of Sadness, The Captain that is portrayed wonderfully by Woody Harrelson is present during The Captain’s Dinner but he didn’t want to eat the fancy fine dining. For most people, including me, that kind of menu is also confusing and overwhelming. The Captain instead order a cheeseburger with fries.
In the film, it feels like The Captain choose cheeseburger as part of his anti-establishment idealism to the rich. Or it’s probably just what I feel, in the end of the day most people will choose comfort rather than fancy things.
For me, there is a similarity between The Captain in Triangle of Sadness and The Chef in The Menu. I will choose the phrase picked by The Menu director Mark Mylod: Faustian pact.
The Captain later in the film described himself as a shit-socialist, because he still work in the luxury yacht. In the meantime The Chef told to his guests:
I’ve allowed my work to reach the price point where only the class of people in this room can access it.
And I’ve been fooled in trying to satisfy people who can never be satisfied.
And then later in the film, Margot help the audience to get more into the background of Chef Slowik.
And now, enter the big reveal.
In August 1987, the young Julian Slowik was employee of the month at Hamburger Howie’s. In Slowik’s secret lodge, Margot observe the sincerest wide smile of Slowik we had of him in the entire film. A hamburger. That’s it. Deep at its core, things are simple, aren’t they?
Near the end of The Menu, Margot use the cheeseburger as her last request to the chef. As the last resort to show that after all she is still the customer in that setting, not the menu. She requested fiercely.
Not some fancy, deconstructed avant-bullshit.
A real cheeseburger.
- Margot
In which Chef Slowik replied:
I’ll make you feel as if you’re eating the first cheeseburger you ever ate.
The cheeseburger moment is truly the hard home truth for Chef Slowik.
Which for me brings back to the most touching part that I like from both film. In some ways, we are truly a service provider for others. Even though it seems we are at the top, we might not realize that we are here to service others.
The Service Provider
The one that explore more explicit about being a service provider is The Menu, in the conversation between Slowik and Margot. Or as Slowik said:
The Shit Shovelers
Oh, I know a fellow service industry worker when I see one.
And then Slowik told Margot how he lost his desire to cook for someone in ages. It’s such an interesting dynamic between Slowik and Margot in the whole film and it reach its peak in the cheeseburger moment.
In The Menu we also see how the kitchen truly work as a unit, as a team. Sometimes, their work are truly invisible because we commonly only enjoy the end product without knowing the details and the hardship of being in the kitchen. We might be the snob like Tyler, who seems to be the one who know-it-all. But in reality, it’s just bullshit.
As this is the third act of this post, I’d like to get back to the third act of Triangle of Sadness. Where the bad weather and the seasickness followed with the surprising terrorists attacks that capsized the yacht. And literally turn the characters upside down. It’s the service provider, the housekeeper, that actually able to survive in the hard times.
I caught the fish. I made the fire. I cooked the fish. I did all the work. What did you do?
Maybe you shouldn’t be so lazy and dependent on me.
In times of disaster, and no internet, the rich got nothing while Abigail have skills to survive. And we can see how the rich with their opportunistic mindset will do anything just to be able to eat and sleep comfortably in the middle of nowhere.
Abigail is portrayed magnificently by Dolly De Leon. It’s really fascinating how her character was initially shown as the room and toilet cleaner throughout the first half of the movie and then she became the anti-hero of the final act.
Other things that I like about the two films is that how the women are so strong in their own character development. We see the menacing Elsa in The Menu and the enigmatic Margot as the heroine in The Menu. And we have Abigail as the main star in Triangle of Sadness. Followed by Paula that for me is de facto leader of the yacht (before it’s attacked by terrorists).
And then we came to the end.
For me, both film put an open-ended ending on-point. I think it’s great that each respective writers let the audience wander what happen to Margo, and also what happen to Abigail and Yaya in the end of each film.
However, ironically the endings also probably a symbol of the hard home truth that most of the times the service provider did not have a privilege for a perfect ending.
We might be keep going as a service provider for someone else. While maybe from time to time we got a little privilege to be the one receiving the services of others.
Maybe, in the end of the day we just need to remind ourself not just to eat. Just like what Julian Slowik told his guests.
Do not eat.
Taste.
Savor.
Relish.
Be mindful.
Let’s get our privilege in check.
And now I crave a cheeseburger. A real cheeseburger.
