Force Majeure--Movie Review

by Peter O"Connell

Force Majeure. Released in U.S.: Oct. 31, 2014. Running time: 118 mins. Rating: R for some language and brief nudity.

Conversation near a movie theatre between someone hesitating outside and someone exiting: What's “Force Majeure”? Well, it's a French phrase that means “irresistible force,” but it's also the title given in the U.S. to a Swedish movie (subtitled in English) originally entitled “Turist.” So it has nothing to do with France? Well, not exactly. It's set in the French Alps, where a Swedish family has gone for a skiing vacation. So it's a probe of the emotional pain involved in relationships? Swedish movies often are devoted to that—think Ingmar Bergman. Yes and no. It's also permeated by a sense of humor. So it's a comedy about vacations, like the “National Lampoon” movies from some years back? No, its sense of humor is not slapsticky like that. Besides, it's centered around the danger of avalanches. Avalanches? So it's kind of a thriller set at a resort, sort of a variation on “Jaws”--”just when you thought it was safe to go back on the ski slopes . . .”. Not really. 

What Force Majeure “really is” is a brilliant and original film in which a wife's contemplation of her husband's behavior during a spectacularly staged avalanche leads to an outpouring of long-suppressed emotions that shakes the foundations of their family life. The avalanche becomes a kind of metaphor for the dangers that surround any relationship not based on honesty and trust between the parties. The detonations of explosives that punctuate the film, aimed at creating “controlled avalanches,” are the equivalents of emotional outbursts by the characters that break out from time to time. 

Force Majeure does not have the somewhat doleful and lugubrious quality often associated with Swedish films. Its striking cinematography of majestic mountains, its observations of the operations of a ski resort, and its droll dialogue and sharp satire dealing with various types of people found at a resort provide the movie instead with a unique mix of heartbreak and hilarity. Director Ruben Ostlund--with Johannes Bah Kuhnke as the husband, Lisa Loven Kongsli as the wife, and a fine supporting cast—make this film as exciting and enjoyable in its own psychologically astute way as a swift swoop down steep slopes. Don't hesitate to see it.