MOVIE: Force Majeure

 

FORCE MAJEURE:  a film about relationships.  This film takes place at the Les Ares Ski Lodge in France.  The opening scene of the lodge is gorgeous.  The main characters are a Swedish family of four, and the film chronicles the family’s six days at the resort.  In an early scene, the wife, Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli), tells another guest that this vacation is to give the husband an opportunity to reconnect with his family.  The husband, Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke), is some type of businessman; we are not given any information about his work.   Based on events of the first day, you would think they are an ideal family; European picture perfect.  However, on the second day, while they are having lunch on the lodge’s deck, it appears that a controlled avalanche has gone out of control.  The rest of this 118-minute film deals with the fact that rather than acting to save his family, Tomas reacts out of fear.  As it turns out, the avalanche does not harm anyone and all the lunch guests return to their tables and finish their meals.  Ebba stays with the children throughout the incident.  When she later tells the story, Tomas does not acknowledge his fear reaction.  Over the next two days, the couple’s relationship deteriorates.  By the third day, Ebba skies alone.  On the fourth day, Tomas skies with a male friend, Mats.  The previous evening there had been an awkward but funny interaction among Mats, his girlfriend, Ebba and Tomas.  While addressing a serious issue – Tomas’ manhood and courage – the film intersperses humor.  The movie, directed by Ruben Ostland, appears on some critics’ Top 10 list.  While it won’t be on mine, this film is definitely worth seeing.  If you’re into skiing, it might be a must see.  I found the ending sequence of the film odd; I would have ended the story five minutes earlier.  The fact that the director structured the story to coincide with each new day, without using any flashbacks, gives an element of suspense to the story.