The cause of death of Charlbi Dean, protagonist of ‘The Triangle of sadness’ revealed

On August 30th we were shocked by the news of the sudden death of actress and model Charlbi Dean at the age of 32. Dean had just starred in what was supposed to be his big leap into cinema, ‘The Triangle of Sadness’, the new film by Ruben Östlund which, just 3 months earlier, had won the Golden Shell at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. her representative said then that she had died of a sudden illness, now a spokesman for the New York City Medical Examiner (the coroner’s office) has revealed exactly what happened to the South African actress.

According to Deadline, Dean died of bacterial sepsis after being exposed to Capnocytophaga, a bacteria normally found in the mouth of mammals and commonly transmitted by an animal bite or periodontal disease. Although the infection can be treated with antibiotics such as penicillin, Dean had been prone to serious illness since his spleen had to be removed following a car crash in Cape Town in 2009.

Although she has been a model since she was 6 years old, Dean’s career in front of the cameras could not have been very long and apart from this film, we have only seen her in one episode of ‘Elementary’ and 9 of ‘Black Lightning’. ; in the comedy ‘Spud’ and its sequel, ‘Spud 2: The Madness Continues’; and in other titles with small roles such as “Blood in the Water”, “Don’t Sleep”, “An Interview with God” or “Porthole”.

satirical black comedy

In “The Triangle of Sadness”, that Avalon will premiere in Spain on February 17, Dean plays model Yaya, who along with her partner, also a model Carl (Harris Dickinson), is invited on a luxury cruise. When the yacht sinks, passengers and crew end up on a deserted island, a group of billionaires and a cleaning lady. Together they will have to fight for survival by establishing a new hierarchy, since the cleaner is the only one who knows how to fish.

This satirical black comedy written and directed by Östlund (“The Square”) in its English-language film debut, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received an eight-minute standing ovation, and later went through Toronto, Gijón and the San Sebastián Film Festival. It was released commercially in France on September 28 and in the United States on October 7 and has generally received very positive reviews from critics. The cast of ‘The Triangle of Sadness’ is completed by Woody Harrelson, Zlatko Buric, Dolly de Leon, Henrik Dorsin and Vicki Berlin.