The Six-Sided Triangle (1963) Spoiler-Free Summary – What It's About

In this inventive short film from 1963, director Christopher Miles transforms a familiar domestic scenario into something strikingly original. When a husband returns home to discover his wife with a lover, the classic eternal triangle receives a fresh treatment—presented through six distinct national viewpoints. The same three performers—Sarah Miles as the Wife, Nicol Williamson as the Lover, and Bill Meilen as the Husband—portray the central trio across all segments, allowing the same essential story to refract through different cultural prisms while the core dynamic remains intact.

The film's structure serves as both narrative device and cinematic commentary. Each national segment—American, British, Japanese, Swedish, Italian, and French—brings its own visual language, emotional register, and storytelling conventions to the identical setup. From desert-draped mythic imagery to rain-soaked English restraint, from Japanese fatalism to Swedish snowbound melancholy, the film explores how different cultures interpret jealousy, passion, and compromise through radically different lenses. Even subtitles become part of the playful approach, with mischievous mistranslations adding layers of comedy and commentary.

Beyond its narrative premise, the work functions as a gentle satire of cinema itself. The filmmakers poke fun at the styles and pretensions of well-known directors and stars from each country, turning what could be a simple domestic drama into a witty examination of film language. Visual styles shift dramatically, and tone swings from ritualistic gravity to breezy comedy—all while the fundamental human situation remains constant and recognizable.

This border-transcending approach earned the film an Academy Award nomination for Best Live-Action Short Film, recognizing both its technical ingenuity and its ability to find fresh meaning in familiar material. The result is a tapestry of perspectives that treats its subject with curiosity and wit, inviting viewers to consider how the same story transforms when viewed through different cultural assumptions about love, honor, and the tangled emotions that bind three people together.