'Force Majeure' is a superb exploration of the consequences of male weakness
In the superb 鈥淔orce Majeure,鈥� a vacationing Swedish family is having lunch on the veranda of a ski resort in the French Alps when a nearby 鈥渃ontrolled鈥� avalanche sends everybody into a panic 鈥� most of all Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke), who, grabbing his cellphone, bolts from the table, momentarily leaving behind his wife, Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli), and their two children. This brief act of cowardice, which Tomas for a time denies before breaking down in shameful admittance, eats away at Ebba and slowly rots their relationship.
At times, as the vacation morphs into a baring of souls, 鈥淔orce Majeure," written and directed by Ruben 脰stlund, resembles an Ingmar Bergman movie on the slopes. Ebba鈥檚 obsession with Tomas鈥檚 sprint becomes almost pathological. It鈥檚 a relief when 脰stlund introduces a couple of Norwegian friends, the divorced Mats (Kristofer Hivju, from 鈥淕ame of Thrones鈥�) and his 20-year-old girlfriend, Fanny (Fanni Metelius), to leaven the load. Divided into sections corresponding to the vacation鈥檚 five days, 鈥淔orce Majeure鈥� is ultimately about something not often explored in film: the consequences of male weakness in a world in which men are expected to be strong at all times. Grade: A- (Rated R for some language and brief nudity.)
