Force Majeure (2014) Magnolia Pictures/Drama RT: 118 minutes Rated R (some language, brief nudity) Director: Ruben Ostlund Screenplay: Ruben Ostlund Music: Ola Flottum Cinematography: Fredrik Wenzel Release date: November 7, 2014 (Philadelphia, PA) Cast: Johannes Bah Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Clara Wettergren, Vincent Wettergren, Kristofer Hivju, Fanni Metelius, Brady Corbet, Jakob Granqvist. Spoken in Swedish w/English subtitles
Rating: *
WARNING: This review may contain spoilers. Normally, I don’t like to drop those, but I may need to in order to illustrate a few key points. I’ll try to be as vague as possible, but if you plan to see this film (and I advise against it), you should skip reading this review.
You’re watching a movie and the realization slowly creeps in that the people in it are complete a**holes. Have you ever had this experience? Unfortunately I did as I endured Force Majeure, a Swedish-made drama about the aftereffects of a near-catastrophe on a vacationing family. Everybody in it is an a**hole! Even the kids are little a**holes. These people got on my damn nerves. As such, I didn’t give a hoot about any of the characters affected by the central crisis. I realize I’m going to get a lot of flak from people who like this movie. I’ll probably be described as “shallow” and “short-sighted” for my negative review, but I DON’T F***ING CARE. To me, Force Majeure stands as yet another reminder that subtitles doth not a great movie make. Subtitles do NOT automatically qualify a movie as fine cinema. If you go by that logic, then foreigners must love the hell out of The Lone Ranger and Battleship. This is one of the many lessons I’ve learned as a lifelong movie lover and I now impart this nugget of wisdom unto you, the reader.
The story begins with a family of four on a ski vacation in the French Alps. Dad Tomas (Kuhnke) is supposed to spending quality time with his loved ones- wife Ebba (Kongsli) and kids, Vera and Harry (real life Wettergren siblings)- but his cell phone constantly rings, distracting him from his family. One day at lunch, they look on in horror as a controlled avalanche grows out of control and heads straight for the building. Tomas grabs his cell phone and runs, leaving his family to fend for themselves. That crisis turns out to be a false alarm, but it’s nothing compared to the resulting fallout from Dad’s act of cowardice. Ebba is understandably pissed at him, but she’s a passive-aggressive type who doesn’t let on right away that she’s angry. Instead, it comes out gradually and at the most inappropriate times, like when they’re socializing with couples they meet at the hotel. Ebba just can’t let it go (all you husbands out there know how frustrating this is, right?) and her anger creates friction between another couple- Mats (Hivju) and Fanni (Metelius)- who debate (for HOURS!) what he’d likely do in the midst of a crisis. At first, Tomas denies and justifies, but after he sees cell phone footage of his actions, he feels tremendous guilt.
Okay, now come the spoilers along with a few questions. A chance at redemption comes in the form of another crisis. Did Tomas deliberately put his family in harm’s way in order to redeem himself? If so, does Ebba realize it? If that’s the case, then basically she’s just giving him this one, right? That’s what was going through my mind during the climactic scenes. Oh, wait a minute. That was the false climax. How silly of me to forget. After the matter appears to be resolved, the family and all the other guests at the hotel face another situation. It involves an apparently incompetent bus driver who can’t navigate his way along the twisty mountain road. If he’s that inept, why is he driving? Why hasn’t hotel management fired his ass? Must be somebody’s brother-in-law. So what about the kids? How are they affected by all the drama? They behave like little brats. When they’re not yelling at their parents to go away, they’re crying about the possibility of a divorce. Tomas and Ebba argue a lot during the course of the movie. The other character of note is this hotel janitor who stands around smoking cigarettes and watching the drama play out without uttering a single word. Maybe he’s witnessed such scenes so many times that it’s no big deal. Who knows? His character is never fully explained.
I do understand the point of Force Majeure. It asks the viewer how they would react in a crisis situation. Would you run or play the hero? We may say the latter, but there’s no way to know for sure unless we find ourselves in such a situation. As Mats explains, our survival instinct may kick in and it would then become a matter of self-preservation. It’s an interesting subject and one I’d rather debate in the context of a better movie.
Force Majeure is colossally annoying. I didn’t like the characters at all, but you already know that. Maybe I’m being too harsh calling them all a**holes, but that’s the one word that kept flashing in my head (in BIG neon letters!) throughout the whole movie. That’s not to say the acting is bad. On the contrary, it’s actually pretty good assuming the characters are supposed to be unlikable a**holes. The cinematography is also quite good. Aesthetically, writer-director Ruben Ostlund does a fine job. It’s nice to look at except it’s NOT supposed to be a travelogue. There’s nothing wrong with the basic premise. It’s the rest of it that stinks on ice.
At just under two hours, it feels interminably long. I just wanted it to be over. When the title card announcing their final day of vacation came up, I said “Thank God!” loud enough for my neighbors to hear. It’s excruciating. One scene actually made my head pound and ears hurt. As the closing credits began to roll, I said “Next time, go to the beach!” out loud. I couldn’t help it. I was so frustrated and aggravated by Force Majeure. I guess what it all comes down to is that it just rubbed me the wrong way. And I may be alone in my opinion of this movie as it’s been selected as Sweden’s entry for this year’s Academy Awards. Oh well.
A funny thought crossed my mind on the way home. What if this was an American movie starring Chevy Chase? LOL! He’d probably be the cause of the avalanche. National Lampoon’s Ski Vacation, it has a nice ring to it. Note to self, contact Matty Simmons.
