Force Majeure is in limited U.S. release. Here's our review.
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| "Now children, don't forget to brush your tongues." |
Epic
as it is small, quiet as it is bombastic, Swedish writer-director Ruben Östlund’s
Force Majeure uses a deceptively
simple premise to pose larger, far more immediate questions about the
French-Latin common law term. A clause
abdicating a party from responsibility should an unforeseeable act of God or
natural disaster occurs, Force Majeure follows
Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli), a well-to-do family with
two children vacationing on a luxurious skiing trip in the French Alps. During an outdoor lunch break on a balcony
overlooking the snow covered mountaintop, a controlled avalanche goes awry and
barrels into the family of terrified onlookers.
The smoke clears and all are safe, but a greater horror emerges in the
process: in a momentary act of cowardice, Tomas leaves Ebba and their children
behind as he runs for cover. Worse
still, he’s unable to admit to his selfish conduct, leading to a series of
increasingly awkward exchanges and burgeoning anger that threatens not only
their relationship but also of friends they come to lean on.
Using the scenic natural grandeur of the
French Alps and ski resort as a modern day Overlook Hotel, Force Majeure is a subtly ominous, droll commentary on mankind’s
general tendency to think of himself before his fellow man. What would you do in a fight or flight
situation that threatened not only your life but those of your loved ones as
well? What’s especially striking about Östlund’s
dark comedy is the perfect dynamic balance he achieves between the stark, vast
vistas of the setting and the intensely up, close and personal conversations
between the group of friends. Borrowing
opening cues and intertitles from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining with cold, foreboding shots of the resort and the
imposing mountains surrounding it, there’s a silent dread established about the
setting as if the ice covered canyons could swallow this little family
whole. Distant thunder of controlled
avalanches on the soundtrack imply a cataclysmic event on the horizon that
threatens the calm and collected comfort zone the family believes they’re
in. In a move not unlike Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, the film shifts
focus from the event to the aftermath it triggers and all affected by it.
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| "Everybody run!!! Hoth will destroy us!!! |
The discussion proposed by Force Majeure wouldn’t work half as
effectively were it not for the brilliant performances by its cast. In the film’s most awkward scene, Ebba dumps
all her marital dirty laundry on the dinner table before their friends, even
playing a video from an iPhone camera clarifying her husband’s cowardice. Watch
as Kuhnke convincingly imbues Tomas with all the pride and pride of a family
man trying to admit his failure to himself, the camera lingering on his face
growing steadily more fraught with guilt.
A powerful counterpoint to Kuhnke’s husband on the verge of a nervous
breakdown is Kongsli as Ebba, a woman struggling to come to grips with her own
confusion of rage and forgiveness. What
makes her delivery to their peers so powerful is how she picks up right where
she left off days before when the argument first arose privately. Where Tomas shuts down in the hopes the drama
will fade away, Ebba’s anger is as hot as ever and, come Hell or high water, is
not going to be modulated by time.
A perfect union of cinema as grand visual
experience and a richly detailed, often comical discussion piece, Force Majeure is one of the finest tuned
and deeply insightful film experiences of the year. The greatest complimentary description one
can give the film is…humbling. In an
modern era where we’re so committed to the safety nets of our technological age
and the comforting notion we will always be there for our loved ones, Force Majeure shakes up and exposes
carefully established false pretenses to call into question where our
commitments to our fellow man really stand.
For better or worse, the unexpected act of God, where and whenever that
may be, will absolutely bring our shortcomings in life out into the open.
-Andrew Kotwicki