The (in)discreet charm of Bourgeois excess, or (the limits of) cinema as social critique: a comparative consideration of Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend (1967) and Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness (2022)

This essay aims to discuss Jean Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend (1967) and Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness (2022), two European films produced 55 years apart and set across different geographies, yet which, in my view, serve as excellent examples of cinema as social critique – films that aim to formulate a critique of capitalist society in the domain of cinema. The films will be considered in terms of their respective similarities and differences and what this may (or may not) say about their respective historical moments. Above all, the films will be compared in terms of the satirical approach they employ which takes aim at the perceived decadence and immorality of capitalist society in what we might want to ironically refer to as the (in)discreet charm of bourgeois excess. The films will be considered in terms of their relation to two different 20th century European avant-garde movements – firstly, in relation to the important artistic tradition of Surrealism (and more specifically that of a cinema under the sway of Surrealist ideas) and, secondly, in relation to the theory of the Situationist International (SI). Lastly, the films will be used to show how, despite being exceptional examples of ‘cinema as social critique,’ they also perfectly serve to illustrate the limitations of such a cinema – embedded, as both films are, within the status-quo of cultural production as resolutely profitable entertainment products.