Force Majeure (2014)

• Year: 2014
• Released: 30 Dec 2014
• Country: Sweden, France, Norway, Denmark, Italy
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award31 wins & 41 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2121382/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/force_majeure
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/force-majeure
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Swedish, Norwegian, English, French, Italian
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Comedy, Drama
• Runtime: 120 min
• Writer: Ruben Östlund
• Director: Ruben Östlund
• Cast: Johannes Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Clara Wettergren
• Keywords: husband wife relationship, dark comedy, family vacation, near-death experience, avalanche,

	7.2/10
	87/100

Force Majeure Storyline

Outwardly, married Swedish couple Tomas and Ebba and their two adolescent offspring Vera and Harry could be the poster children for the western upper middle class and the modern nuclear family of their cultural and social standing. Currently at a French ski resort on a five day vacation largely as a respite for Tomas from work so that he can have that proper work/family balance, they are good looking, politely agree to the request from the resort staff photographer to pose for pictures, ski together, give each other their requisite alone time when they can indulge themselves with their plethora of electronic toys (although Tomas is supposed to stay off the “work” phone), keep proper hygiene diligently brushing their teeth each using their own electric toothbrush, and even cuddle together as a family on the large king sized bed in their hotel suite dozing after a long day on the slopes. Because of what they strive for as a family, Ebba just doesn’t understand a woman she meets at the resort named Charlotte, who is there without her children as a respite of her own away from them, and who has a blissfully open marriage. However, the crack in Tomas and Ebba’s family veneer starts to show at lunch on day two. While they dine on the outdoor patio of one of the mountaintop restaurants, an incident external to them leads to gut reactions by them all which shows Ebba how little a priority Tomas places on her and the children compared to himself and his material possessions on that gut level. While Tomas doesn’t want to admit what Ebba believes based on that incident, Ebba conversely doesn’t want it to affect how she feels to tear off that perfect family veneer completely, which may be difficult for her not to do also on that gut level. All the children know is that there is tension between their parents which could lead to divorce. Added into the discussion are their similarly aged divorced friend Mats and his much younger, twenty year old girlfriend, Fanni, who arrive at the resort on day three and whose thoughts on the matter are based largely on gender and generation. How they all come out the other end is partly affected by their encounter with a bus driver.

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Force Majeure Movie Reviews

Way overlong and unconvincing.

This Swedish film made the short list of nine which were vying for the Best Foreign Language Oscar, though ultimately it was not one of the final nominees. This would indicate that the movie is a really good film. However, I wasn’t particularly impressed by the production–mostly because what occurs in the film easily could have been said in an hour. Instead, the film is two hours long and it really, really drags. Because of this, although some film experts might love the movie, I think the average viewer would be bored silly after a while. Heck, many might be inclined just to watch the film in fast-forward mode because it’s that slow.

The idea behind the film is pretty unique. A family is taking a ski vacation when, out of the blue, there is an avalanche right next to the restaurant where they are eating. The mother tries to get her children to safety but the dad instinctively runs to save himself. Not surprisingly, this ends up causing a serious rift in their marriage–much of it, presumably, because of the stereotype that the man MUST behave bravely and heroically. Following this, the wife spends much of the film emasculating her husband–talking all about this incident in front of others and showing contempt for him. Later, the husband gets in touch with his feelings and spends much of the last third of the film crying.

There are multiple problems with “Force Majeure other than it being overlong. The avalanche incident happens way too early in the film and because of this, there isn’t a lot of tension or build up to the major plot point. Plus who the family is and their relationships aren’t really very well defined–so how this effects them after isn’t totally clear. Finally, I assume that the husband was supposed to get in touch with his inner pain and disappointment in himself late in the movie. However, my daughter and I watched and felt that he came off as rather histrionic and the emotional scenes seemed rather fake. Overall, I wanted to like this film so much more than I did. Perhaps I am being too harsh about it–and as always I’d love to know what you think.

By the way, here in the States, this film came out in the last few days on DVD. It is also available on Netflix.

A surprisingly slight tale

On release, FORCE MAJEURE was widely applauded as a bleak Swedish comic drama, in which a father’s act of cowardice during a family skiing holiday has powerful repercussions for his place in the family. It sounded good, but having just endured watching it, I can report that the praise is unfounded. This is a simple character drama, of the type they make so many of, and it has little to recommend it. The events depicted early on are surprisingly trivial, and the film fails to make the protagonists in any way likable, so watching them argue, fight, and cry is a real chore. The actor from GAME OF THRONES is the only thing I liked about this slow, slight, and uninteresting tale, which is about as interesting as watching paint dry.

thought provoking and surprisingly hilarious

Swedish couple Tomas and Ebba take their young kids Vera and Harry on a ski vacation in the French Alps. On the second day while eating lunch, they are disrupted by an avalanche. Tomas abandons his family and runs away while Ebba protected the kids. The avalanche dissipates in time but the real damage to the family has been done.

It starts off as a quiet Swedish movie. There’s not a lot of dialog and then the incident happens. I’ve seen this idea done before in ‘The Loneliest Planet’ but this one is so much better. It’s great that the incident happens early on. The kids add another layer to the story. It is funny and uncomfortable. His reaction is unexpected and brilliant. It’s a movie that digs deep inside of a marriage.