Swedish film Force Majeure, directed by Ruben Östlund and released in October of 2014, follows a family of four on their ski vacation in the French Alps. The film is a slow-paced drama. Its long takes capture the entirety of characters’ conversations and actions, and it is a seemingly small — to some perhaps insignificant — moment around which the film revolves.
At the moment an avalanche appears to be approaching the family, Tomas, the father (Johannes Kuhnke), reacts inappropriately. This abrupt, impulsive reaction changes the family’s interpersonal dynamic. Force Majeure questions whether one’s character may truly be judged by such immediate responses or whether one’s personality and motivations should remain unblemished in the face of instinct.
Tomas and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) take their children Harry (Vincent Wettergren) and Vera (Clara Wettergren) to a cafe located on the mountain they just skied down. While they are dining outside, fully clad in parkas and snow pants, an avalanche suddenly begins to form in the distance.
Tomas is fascinated by great clouds of snow and begins to photograph the happening, insisting that it must be a controlled avalanche. Meanwhile, his wife becomes ever more distraught as the surge moves closer to where their family is eating. Other guests begin to scramble to get their things and head inside.
A few screams are heard, yet Tomas continues to insist everything is alright; he even laughs. Ebba yells for her children and for Tomas, who is not in sight. The screen goes blank.
When the image fades back in and it becomes clear that the avalanche was in fact controlled, the viewer sees Ebba huddled beside her children. They call out for Tomas who walks to them from a distance. It is clear that he, in the split second the avalanche appeared to come too close, chose to protect himself and his own belongings rather than ensuring the safety of his family.
From this point forward, Ebba cannot view her husband in the same light that she once did. Their relationship remains cordial, but lacks the basic warmth it had before.
Shots of monotonous chairlift rides and barren ski slopes pair well with Ebba’s clearly changed view of her husband. Ebba never directly confronts Tomas about what has happened, and it is when they find themselves in the company of other couples that she becomes more open with her feelings while he offers his own version of the story.
Östlund elaborated on his intentions regarding this strained relationship in an interview with Indiewire.
“When you’re in a couple relationship, your two brains try to compare their view of what happened,” Östlund said. “The stronger brain will manipulate the weaker brain. Tomas will say, ‘It’s interesting what you’re saying but I don’t agree.’ If there’s a third person there, they can immediately say, ‘This sounds like it’s not true.’ But when you are in a coupled relationship, it’s like being in a bubble. She needs to bring up the subject in front of other people in order to not be manipulated by Tomas, who’s using the male rhetoric to control the situation.”
The film continues to capture the daily actions of Tomas and Ebba much like it captures the mechanics of the ski slopes and the lodge. They brush their teeth before bed, shave and put on and take off their ski clothes often throughout the film.
These routine actions remain largely unchanged before and after the avalanche. This monotony brings the viewer’s focus to the small changes in Ebba and Tomas’ interactions, which indicate a shift in their relationship.
The long takes used throughout the film make these changes more subtle and make the film more realistic as a whole. Östlund explains that his cinematographer, Fredrik Wenzel, made use of the long take technique for a reason.
“It’s almost like a voyeuristic style,” Östlund said. “We are watching, rather than being in the emotions of the characters. The last sentence before the avalanche is triggered is, ‘Isn’t there any Parmesan cheese?’ It highlights humor when in really dramatic events, next to them you have the triviality of life. The static, fixed shot that doesn’t cut things up can highlight those things.”
Tomas, in order to ameliorate his relationship with his family, must confront his own psyche. The values of the family man he believed himself to be were undermined in the face of imminent danger. He becomes vulnerable and insecure yet the film finally allows him to recover his dignity.
Force Majeure has won the Best Film award and was nominated for nine other awards at the 50th Guldbagge Awards, as well as the 2014 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize.
It was also selected as the Swedish entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.
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