Exploding Toilets, Puke Tubes and Flooded Rooms: How ‘Triangle of Sadness’ Pulled Off a 15-Minute Vomit Scene

One of the most talked-about scenes in a movie this year involves a symphony of sickness in Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness.”

For director of photography Fredrik Wenzel and production designer Josefin Åsberg, the planning for such a complex scene began two years before principal photography.

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The film’s second act takes place aboard a luxury yacht, culminating with the Captain’s Dinner. Ill-timed with a raging storm that violently rocks the boat, the dinner causes nearly everyone on board to succumb to seasickness, namely projectile vomiting. It begins slowly at first, but the increasingly chaotic scene spans 15 minutes and ends in a swirl of vomit, diarrhea and raw sewage.

Wenzel recalls, “The first time the three of us spoke about it, we actually went to the SFX company’s warehouse where they had built a small rocking gimbal for a smaller set.” To understand the physics required for the scene, the team first set up a table and chair and took turns experiencing the sensation.”

This was an invaluable exercise. Åsberg says, “It was interesting to test the angle. How is it to sit? When do you feel the effects of the movement? When do the chairs start to slide? We tried different angles and discussed the different effects.”

Once they knew the basic logistics of how they would create the storm, the departments could begin their work, which included building a platform on a hydraulic lift two meters off the ground. Åsberg started designing the dining room, hallway and staterooms. The storm sequence was always part of her planning process. “We were discussing different details that were moving with the set. What kind of curtains do we have? And will they be moving? Could we have objects rolling in the cabin?”

When Wenzel’s team selected equipment, lighting and camera angles, their next step was figuring out the more specific details. He explains they were “trying to build it slowly, like building toward some sort of climax within the scene. How many times do they actually puke on camera? And when does that happen? To start building an arc within the film in this part of the scene, and to define the moment when it all erupts.”

In order to build to a crescendo that includes exploding toilets, flooded staterooms, and people sliding in vomit along corridors, the action needed to start slowly. The actors were outfitted with tubes attached to their faces through which the SFX team could spew realistic-looking materials and create the desired effect. Åsberg remembers the many conversations she had with Östlund about color and consistency, including pieces of octopus for one passenger and bits of shrimp for another, as well as the right shades for the raw sewage that would burst from the toilets.

Because the action takes place within the framework of the Captain’s Dinner, they shot various vomiting scenes over the course of many days, usually in conjunction with other scenes. While a conversation is happening at one table, someone else is in the background, running for the door and getting sick on the way. This made cleanup and resetting time a quick process.

Both Wenzel and Åsberg were particularly impressed with 64-year-old actress Sunnyi Melles, of whom Wenzel says, “I’ve never met an actor willing to go so far as she was.” Åsberg details the planning of the scene in which her character winds up stripped down to a slip and barricaded in her bathroom, clinging to her porcelain lifeline. “She was going to sit on the toilet and puke in the bidet. And then, should she sit on the bidet and puke on the toilet? No, maybe we should try one where she sits on the floor and pukes in the toilet. And then we said she has been doing this for a few minutes so there needs to be some puke on the floor. The floor was so glossy, so then she started to slide with her underbody. And then we filled up with more puke.”

Wenzel says with an admiring laugh, “I remember thinking to myself, this is one of those images you never thought you would take in your life.”

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