Starring: Johannes Bah Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Clara Wettergren, and Vincent Wettergren
Distributor: Sharmill Films
Runtime: 119 mins. Reviewed in Oct 2014
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This subtitled Swedish film won the Jury Prize in the “Un Certain Regard” section of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, and competed for Sweden’s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2014 Academy Awards.
A Swedish family – parents, Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuhnke) and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli), and their children, Vera (Clara Wettergren), and Harry (Vincent Wettergren) – go for a holiday to a “fancy” high-tech ski resort nestled scenically in the French Alps. Tomas has “5 days to focus on his family”. While enjoying lunch together on the deck of a restaurant overlooking the snow fields, disaster looms. Before the eyes of the diners, an avalanche, 50 metres high and 100 metres wide, roars down the mountain. As the snow cascades down, panic steps in, and chaos erupts.
Ebba tries to protect her children and calls out to Tomas for help, but he runs “away from the table”. Her camera catches him fleeing for his life. No one is injured in the avalanche, but Tomas’ behaviour alters drastically the dynamics of the family unit. The marriage between Ebba and Tomas comes under strain, and Tomas struggles to reassert his role as head of his family. Ebba and her children know that Tomas moved to save himself, his mobile phone, and his ski gloves, before themselves. Ebba’s sight of Tomas running away eats into her.
The title of the film is a legal term referring to the occurrence of an extraordinary event, beyond anyone’s control, that seriously affects one’s duties, responsibilities and obligations. In this film, the unexpected avalanche prevented Tomas from fulfilling his obligations as husband to his wife and father to his children. Starting off looking like a disaster movie, the film quickly becomes a compelling, effective psychological drama of a relationship breakdown.
This is a smart, intelligent movie that examines boldly a family under psychological threat. Tomas is ashamed of his behaviour and has to convince his wife and children that he is not the coward they think he is. At the same time that the film delivers sharp comment about family life, it makes very effective use of naturalistic observations and engenders dramatic tension through exposing us to the minutiae of family life. By showing us how an affluent family lives and interacts with each other, it asks “Do we know how we would behave in “terrible situations”? Whatever we do, the film says forcefully, we will be judged on our behaviour, and our relationships with others will be affected as a result.
The movie is scripted sharply to reflect thoughtfully on moral choice-points. It becomes a social satire on personal capacity to cope under stress and pits the instinct to survive against selfless action. It also targets Swedish prejudices and characteristic ways of behaving, and offers clever comment on the role of the male in modern family life. The film makes stunning use of broad scenic vistas that capture the beauty of the mountains and the snow around them, and the acting in the film is uniformly excellent.
Ostlund’s direction is masterful. He pits very compellingly the stark, almost antiseptic, severity of a white Alpine environment against the fragility of collapsing human relationships, and he puts major intriguing questions right at the centre of the film. When survival is threatened, just how do values and roles play out their influence? And what are the essential differences between selfless behaviour, selfish action, and self-preservation.
Except for one scene, Ostlund keeps explicit debate about religion and morality away from his treatment of the issues, which some would consider a weakness of the movie. Also, the film projects somewhat of a harsh view about human nature. However, aided by excellent direction, scripting and acting, the movie reflects creatively on the view that when sudden events occur (“Force Majeure”) to create human uncertainty, irresponsible behaviour can result, and should that happen, there will be consequences that really do matter.
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