Triangle Of Sadness and Don’t Worry Darling are currently in theaters worldwide: two distinctive movies that share the common goal of satirizing lavish lifestyles and bourgeois impulses. The former is this year’s Palme D’Or winner and features a chaotic cruise ship as its setting, and the latter follows a couple living in a utopian luxurious community that harbors disturbing secrets.
While one leans more on the comedic side and the other tries to fit its social commentary into a gripping mystery, both were clearly inspired by other successful satires that masterfully made fun of the rich.
The Square (2017)
Stream On Hulu
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Ruben Ötlund pretty much turned making fun of the rich at the Cannes Film Festival into a tradition, winning the Palme d’Or this year with his sharp satire. Five years before, his controversial The Square also gave audiences a lot to talk about, criticizing and mocking the artistic elite with a series of terribly awkward situations.
The Square‘s main storyline follows a prestigious art curator who’s trying to reconcile both his personal and professional life as he attempts to set up a controversial new exhibit. Bringing a relevant discussion about what has art become and how the rich manipulate its meaning according to their own terms, The Square is definitely a must-watch.
American Psycho (2000)
Stream On HBO Max
One of the best period movies set in the ’80s, American Psycho is also arguably one of the most misunderstood movies of the century so far. A chaotic look into the life of a psychopathic businessman on the surface, the movie actually commits to questioning and satirizing the toxic lifestyle men led back then and the overly materialist compulsion of successful adults.
To conceive that, American Psycho delivers an over-the-top bloody mess that never fails to make viewers laugh, while also prompting them to look away from the screen. Though not an easy watch and definitely not for everyone, it’s a movie that has aged well and continues to impress both with its clever social critique and its memes.
Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)
Available To Rent On Vudu
Bodies Bodies Bodies takes is the kind of movie where no one can be trusted, offering a gripping modern mystery story as a group of rich, superficial friends engage in a party game that escalates into an actual body count.
The murder mystery ends up being just a clever vehicle to tie the movie’s horror elements to a clever satire of spoiled Gen Z young adults. There are relevant topics inserted in the often hilarious thriller, from class discrimination to fame-seekers, and it all comes down to the greed of the rich to get the upper hand over everyone.
Bacurau (2019)
Stream On Showtime
In Bacurau, inhabitants of a small Brazilian town begin to witness strange events and killings after their town vanishes from most maps. Suspecting something wicked is coming ahead, they unite forces in order to protect their roots and values.
Bacurau rejects any kind of genre and instead floats at ease through horror, drama, thriller, and even flirts with sci-fi, at times. Most importantly, it delivers an important social commentary on modern imperialism and how Third World countries suffer from the constant menace of losing their cultural values. With a great number of violent and intense sequences, the film shows what happens when a community goes all in against the rich, powerful forces that oppress them, never failing to amuse with welcoming dark humor.
The Bling Ring (2013)
Stream On Showtime
One of the best films on the generational shift between the 2000s and 2010s, in the height of crucial technological advances and distinguishable changes in fashion and status, The Bling Ring stands out as a funny, exaggerated satire about jealously and the American dream from an upper-class standpoint.
In the film, inspired by actual events, a group of teenagers obsessed with fame and luxury use the Internet to track celebrities and rob their homes when they’re not there. The Bling Ring offers plenty of highlights, and Emma Watson’s captivating and often funny performance is one of them.
Weekend (1967)
Stream On HBO Max
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Arguably the most essential French New Wave director, Godard dedicated all of his career to experimenting and developing new groundbreaking filmmaking techniques, and most of it applying what he’s learned to criticize the bourgeoisie.
Weekend lies in the middle of the road between his New Wave and straight-up political style, following a somewhat conventional storyline while reaching a sharp level of satire with the absurd and grotesque. In the film, a supposedly perfect road trip illustrates the collapse of French society through a succession of bizarre events, from a never-ending traffic jam to the rise of a cannibalistic tribe.
Sorry To Bother You (2018)
Stream On Netflix
Sorry To Bother You takes its relevant social commentary to unimaginable extremes and the final 30 minutes look like a very distant movie from what was established in the first hour. Starring Lakeith Stanfield in one of his most iconic roles, he plays a telemarketer who discovers the magical key for success, being swept up to the macabre universe of the rich, successful businessmen who rule the world.
The movie works so well because it never takes itself too seriously, but the satire is cleverly constructed and leads up to a shocking punch line. Addressing how so few people call the shots of pretty much everything going on around, it needles a large portion of society.
The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (1972)
Available To Rent On Amazon
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10 years after putting rich guests in the agonizing situation of being unable to leave a party due to inexistent reasons, Luis Buñuel gathers an upper-class sextet who gathers for dinner but never eats, thwarted by a series of unconventional events both real and imagined.
Brilliantly self-aware and constantly playing with the audience, the characters in the movie feel like mere puppets as Buñuel pulls the strings of painfully hilarious situations. The clever satire against the rich is obvious but gripping and leans on the ridicule in pertinent ways. Definitely a crucial precursor to movies that aim at satirizing the bourgeoisie and its greedy instincts.
Saló, Or The 120 Days Of Sodom (1975)
Not Currently Available To Stream
Saló is often remembered as simply a cruel and purposeless torture porn movie featuring some of the most ghastly human atrocities ever put onscreen, but the truth is that the movie intends to make a shocking and powerful political statement against the fantasies of the bourgeoisie and the rise of fascist tendencies in Italy. In the case of Saló, the film is as dark and disturbing as a satire can be.
To do that, Pier Paolo Pasolini explores the depths of human depravity when rich, renowned men are given the power to do whatever they want against their people. The film caused a lot of viewers to nope out and depicts all the atrocities committed by four corrupted fascists as they round up nine teenage girls and boys and subject them to the most unimaginable acts.
Triangle Of Sadness (2022)
Currently In Theaters
Triangle Of Sadness was bound to become one of the most controversial movies of the year even since it won the prestigious Palme D’Or award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Now that the film is finally hitting theaters worldwide, audiences are once again going wild at its sharp satire style and the countless outrageously hilarious situations in which the rich are forced to engage in.
In the movie, two models are invited to a luxurious cruise packed with rich and terribly snobbish passengers. Everything is meticulously designed to look fabulous, but when passengers soon find themselves trapped on a desert island, the situation quickly gets out of hand.
