Force Majeure (Ruben Östlund, 2014): Sweden, France, Norway, Denmark

Review by Zachary T. Parker. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, 2016.

What is it to be male? What is this patriarchal role we have created as a society? Among many other questions, Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure forces us to reconsider this concept that floats around our societal zeitgeist. Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) are taking their kids on a ski trip in the French Alps. During their lunch, an avalanche falls down the cliffside and heads straight towards them. Tomas believes it to be controlled up until the very moment it is about to hit them, when he grabs his phone and runs away from the table, leaving his wife and kids behind.

The initial avalanche creates a torrent of emotional conflict between the wife and husband when Tomas refuses to speak the truth about what transpired in the moment. Their argument drags in friends and couples alike, creating more conflict as symbolized through the many explosions on the mountainsides during the evenings. We watch as Tomas is transformed from a confident workaholic to a sniveling little child as his pride is ripped from him the longer he refuses to acknowledge his shortcomings.

Intended or not, there is certainly some commentary here on the validity (or falsity) in the family role of the supposed patriarch. Ebba becomes not only a mother to the children, but also to Tomas as he reverts back into a little boy. One absolutely intended societal critique, however, is the absolute ridiculousness of Tomas’ and Ebba’s fight.

In conversation with our class, Johannes Kuhnke talked about the silliness of relationship troubles, little fights turning into these monumental events that control our lives and our entire conversations. The janitor that watches the late night fights between Tomas and Ebba is not a strange creepy observer, but rather a baffled bystander of an entirely different social class. Tomas and Ebba have a rather large sum of money clearly, as displayed through their hygiene products and the fact that they are staying at such a nice hotel, but their fights revolve around petty matters. Kuhnke stated that our efforts should be pointed towards true, large issues; not relationship spats.

Force Majeure provides a great critique of not only the issues of relationships, but the issue OF relationships. That is, the monumental power we ascribe to them, when the reality is perhaps our efforts and conflicts should be pointed in entirely different directions, with our relationships being a welcome comfort that betters our everyday life.