A sharp satire about class conflict, with an already-infamous vomiting and defecating scene, was a surprise winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.

“Triangle of Sadness” earned Sweden’s Ruben Ostlund a place among the select group of directors who have won two Palmes d’Or, having already taken it in 2017 with “The Square”.

Also read: From Song Kang Ho to ‘Triangle of Sadness’: Full list of 2022 Cannes winners

Now firmly established as the king of cringe in the arthouse world, Ostlund takes a scalpel to bourgeois niceties in his films, and this time turned his gaze on fashion models and the ultra-rich, who find their status suddenly undermined when disaster strikes their cruise ship.

An extended sequence of projectile vomiting and violently defecating on the ship quickly became the talk of the festival after its premiere last week, leaving viewers either howling with laughter or turning green.

Also read: Who is Shaunak Sen, Indian filmmaker who won at Cannes?

Accepting the award, Ostlund said he wanted audiences to be entertained but also “ask themselves questions, to go out after the screening and have something to talk about.”

The most moving part of the ceremony was the best actress award that went to Iranian Zar Amir Ebrahimi, who was forced to flee her country 16 years ago following a smear campaign about her love life.

Also read: Cannes 2022: All films competing for the Palme d’Or

Ebrahimi had won for her role in “Holy Spider” as a journalist tracking down a serial killer who is murdering prostitutes in the holy city of Mashhad.

Speaking to reporters, Ebrahimi, who now lives in Paris said, “I have come a long way to be on this stage tonight. It was not an easy story.”

“This film is about women, it’s about their bodies, it’s a movie full of faces, hair, hands, feet, breasts, sex — everything that is impossible to show in Iran,” she added.

Also read: Cannes all set to wrap with presentation of Palme d’Or on Saturday

Meanwhile, it was a strong night for Asian cinema with the best director going to South Korea’s Park Chan-wook, known for the 2003 thriller “Oldboy”.

He won for “Decision to Leave” about a detective falling for the prime suspect in a murder investigation.

And best actor went to Song Kang-ho, famous for his role as the father in the Oscar-winning “Parasite”.

Also read: A history of walkouts: Crimes of the Future, Crash and Cronenberg at Cannes

He starred in “Broker” by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, a story about a man trying to sell an abandoned child but who proves to have a tender heart despite his criminal endeavour.

The runners-up Grand Prix was split between 32-year-old Belgian Lukas Dhont and French veteran Claire Denis.

Dhont’s “Close” is a tender portrait of two boys facing bullying as they learn to grapple with their budding sexuality, while Denis won for “Stars at Noon”, a love story set against political tensions in Central America.

The third-place Jury Prize was shared between “The Eight Mountains”, about a lifelong friendship in the Italian Alps and the festival’s most radical entry, “EO”, a movie told entirely from the point of view of a donkey by legendary Polish arthouse director, 84-year-old Jerzy Skolimowski.