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Films

Force Majeure

Thomas Wartenberg asks if you really know yourself.

Do you know what you’d do if you suddenly found yourself facing imminent death, say from a rapidly approaching tornado or avalanche? Would your normal sense of yourself as (I assume) a well-meaning, moral adult get you through the cataclysmic situation with that sense of self left intact? Or would your own fear, perhaps even panic, undermine your ability to act in ways you would be proud of? These are some of the questions posed by Force Majeure, a 2014 Swedish social comedy directed by Ruben Östlund.

The film takes place at a ski resort in the French Alps, where a young, well-off Swedish family has come for a week’s vacation. Early on, Ebba Kuhnke, the wife, tells a fellow guest that they have come because her husband Tomas has been working so much that he has neglected his family. This is a week for him to reconnect to his wife and young children Vera and Harry. Things start off well, as we see the family having their pictures taken against the background of the beautiful mountains where they will soon be skiing.

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