Yahoo Movies Delving into the ambiguous Triangle of Sadness ending
Triangle of Sadness's ending has kept viewers talking since the movie's release in September 2022.
The movie follows a group of wealthy people, and two models Carl and Yaya, who find themselves marooned on a deserted beach after pirates show up and their luxury yacht is blown up.
Abigail, one of the cleaners from the yacht, ends up taking charge of the group of survivors as she's the only one with actual skills, such as catching a fish and starting fires to stop them all from dying.
But when it's discovered that the group might not be as in danger as they thought, Abigail sees her new position of power threatened, leading to an intense finale that leaves a couple of major questions up in the air.
Let's delve into Triangle of Sadness's ending to explain all.
Triangle of Sadness ending explained
Abigail asserts her power over the less useful members of the group on the island, even withholding food when two of them are caught stealing snacks. She invites Carl to sleep with her in the lifeboat, and it is soon obvious that they are having a sexual relationship at night – with her giving Carl extra food as a kind of payment that he passes on to Yaya.
Meanwhile, Jarmo kills a wild donkey with a rock and the group celebrate, though their evening around the fire eating donkey meat becomes tense when Yaya grows jealous of Carl sitting too close to Abigail.
One morning, Yaya visits the lifeboat where Carl is with Abigail to ask for the group's backpack, as she wants to hike up the mountain to see if she can see anything on the other side of the island. Abigail volunteers to go with her, and the pair set off.
Meanwhile, alone on the beach, Therese hears a man singing and it turns out he is a beach vendor selling sunglasses, hats and watches, but she is unable to communicate to him that the survivors need help and he walks away.
After a long walk in which Abigail falls behind, Yaya finds a beachside elevator that reveals that they have actually been stranded near a luxury resort all along.
She shows Abigail, who asks that they sit for a minute and enjoy the moment before they go over to the lift, and then Abigail delays things further, heading to a nearby rocky area to go to the toilet.
Yaya sits with her back to Abigail, and offers the woman a job as her assistant, unaware that at that moment, Abigail is sneaking up behind her with a large rock in her hands, ready to bash her head in (just like Jarmo did to that poor donkey).
The camera cuts to Carl, running frantically through the trees… and then the end credits begin, leaving us with two big questions: did Abigail kill Yaya and why is Carl running?
Does Abigail kill Yaya?
We never actually see Abigail kill Yaya. The last thing we see is her holding the rock over Yaya's head but looking conflicted about it.
Of course, she has a reason to kill the young model. While Yaya and the rest of the group want to be rescued and go back to their old lives, Abigail has more to gain by staying on the island in a position of power over them than returning to a life as a servant to the rich and spoiled masters.
In the final scene, she also reveals that she really has nothing to go back for. Yaya asks if she is looking forward to seeing her children, and Abigail says that she doesn’t have any. While we aren’t given much backstory on Abigail in the previous scenes, this is a sure sign that her island life could be much more preferable to her real life.
If she kills Yaya, no one will know about the elevator – although, unknown to her, they could soon find out about the resort anyway, especially if any of the others have encountered the beach vendor or Therese has been able to communicate with them that she saw him.
Dolly De Leon, who played Abigail, knows what she thinks happened between Abigail and Yaya, but she's not going to tell you. "I think that we can trust the audience enough to come up with their own ending," she told Entertainment Weekly.
"But of course, I have my own personal take on it as the actor who played Abigail. Definitely I know what Abigail's intention is, and I'm the only one who really knows it. I would love to answer the question, but the truth is it really changes depending on the date."
Why did Carl run in the end of Triangle of Sadness?
So, why does the final sequence of Triangle of Sadness see Carl frantically running... somewhere? Like whether Abigail killed Yaya, there's not a confirmed answer.
If he knows about the resort, he may have guessed that Yaya and Abigail's hike could end badly, or he could just be rushing to tell them the good news. Both are acceptable theories, according to writer/director Ruben Östlund.
"For that shot, I told Harris, 'You have been on the beach camp with the others and the beach vendor has arrived there. And maybe the beach vendor has told you that on the other side of the island, in the direction that Yaya and Abigail have gone, there is a resort hotel there.'," he told TheWrap.
"And Carl realises that for Yaya and Abigail, the whole situation maybe will be dangerous. He feels like something bad could happen, so that is why he's running like that, bloody and frantic."
There are other theories, of course, including a fan theory, endorsed by Östlund, that Carl is running as a way to get his male identity back after effectively becoming a concubine to Abigail.
But clearly, whatever you want to think about the ambiguous ending to Triangle of Sadness, it seems that nobody involved with the movie will tell you that you're wrong, so it depends on how positive you want to be.
Triangle of Sadness is available to watch on Netflix in the UK and Ireland.
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