Force Majeure (film) Watch
Adele Strecker
Force Majeure (.mw-parser-output .IPA-label-smallfont-size:85%.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-smallfont-size:100%French: [fɔʁs maʒœʁ]; Swedish: Turist, "tourist") is a 2014 psychological black comedy film written and directed by Ruben stlund. It follows the marital tension resulting from an apparent avalanche in the French Alps, during which the husband prioritizes his escape over the safety of his wife and two children. The title Force Majeure used for the film in some English-speaking countries comes from force majeure, a contractual clause freeing both parties from liability in the event of unexpected disasters.
Force Majeure was acclaimed upon release, with critics praising its script and cinematography. It won the Best Film award at the 50th Guldbagge Awards and was named one of the best films of 2014 by various publications.
A Swedish businessman named Tomas, his Norwegian wife Ebba, their young daughter Vera, and their pre-schooler son Harry stay at a luxury resort in the French Alps. On their second day, they see a controlled avalanche as they are having lunch outdoors on the deck of a restaurant. The powder cloud of the avalanche gives the appearance that the snow is rising and will wipe out everyone on the deck. Tomas, who is filming the avalanche on his phone, panics and runs as the deck quickly empties of patrons, leaving Ebba with their children encased in a dense fog. Patrons return to their tables as the fog dissipates, and no one is hurt.
That evening, they eat dinner with one of Ebba's friends, who has picked up an American man for the evening. Ebba tells the story of the avalanche in English, but Tomas insists he did not run away from the table, and in Swedish adds that one cannot run in ski boots. They argue in front of their embarrassed guests. Ebba is angry that he would not admit he ran away from the avalanche, abandoning them. He is clearly ashamed and says he does not agree with "her version", further infuriating Ebba.
Ebba decides she would like a day of skiing by herself. She has drinks with her friend whom they had dinner with the night before, as the woman says goodbye to another man. Ebba confronts her friend about her adultery, asking her if she loves her husband and children. Her friend says she is fine with having an open relationship with her husband, and that she is happy if he finds a woman to have great sex with, as he does with her. Ebba becomes more insistent, and the friend advises them not to argue, and leaves.
Mats, one of Tomas's old friends, joins them at the resort with his young girlfriend, Fanny. They join Tomas and Ebba for dinner in their suite. After dinner and much wine, Ebba interrupts the conversation to recount the story of the avalanche, to the silent horror of Mats and Fanny. Tomas curls up with Harry to play a video game, and listens to Mats who insists that we are not ourselves in emergencies, naming the Estonia disaster as an example. Ebba says Tomas won't admit what he did. Tomas returns and again insists he has a different perspective. So Ebba fetches Tomas's phone and has the four of them watch the video of the incident. Tomas reluctantly agrees the footage shows someone running, but is silent when Mats speculates that Tomas was running away so that he could come back and dig out his family later. As Fanny and Mats leave, Fanny suggests that she would expect Mats to react in the same way as Tomas. Mats is offended, and after arguing all night their relationship is changed for the rest of the trip.
Tomas and Mats ride the ski lift in silence. They ski down fresh powder. Mats suggests Tomas try primal screaming, and Tomas does, screaming swear words into the Alps. Tomas later confesses to Ebba that he hates himself, his cowardice, his cheating in games with his kids, and his unfaithfulness. He weeps as his children inside the huddle cry together, hearing their parents argue.
On their final day, the family ascend on the ski lift silently. Ebba is concerned about the thick fog. Tomas says he will go first, then children, then she can follow. Ebba gets lost in the fog, and Tomas briefly leaves the children alone to rescue her, returning carrying her shortly after. He sets her down, grinning.
As the family and their friends leave the resort by coach down the winding mountain road, Ebba decides the driver is incompetent and, in a state of fear, demands to be let off and flees the bus. Panic ensues, and Mats takes charge, insisting women and children get off first.
Filming took place at Les Arcs, a ski resort in Savoie, France.[4] Prior to entering film school, Ruben stlund had created ski films, and wanted to use his knowledge and experience from that in a film concerned with existential issues.[5]
Ruben stlund attributed the inspiration for the film's key scenes to a few viral YouTube videos which he felt corroborated the plausible situation and emotions of the characters. The director reasoned that "...if someone captured an event or action or pang of emotion on camera and uploaded to the Internet, then it happened in real life. And it could happen in Force Majeure."[6] The scene where Ebba demands to be let off the bus is based on the YouTube viral video titled "Idiot Spanish bus driver almost kills students".[7]
The film was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival[10] where it won the Jury Prize.[11] It was also screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.[12]
The film was nominated for the 2014 Nordic Council Film Prize. It was also selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards,[13] making the early round of shortlist, but was not a nominee.[14] It was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards.[15]
At the 50th Guldbagge Awards in Sweden it won Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing and was nominated for Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Sound Editing.[16]
Force Majeure is one of those movies where it feels like something really drastic might happen, but then nothing much ever does. So much of its volatile action remains just under the surface, in the form of flaws, misunderstandings, festering resentments. In this, and many other ways, it resembles that other Scandinavian phenomenon My Struggle, and I have to imagine that, if he saw this movie, Karl Ove Knausgaard must have enjoyed watching this perfect Swedish family disintegrate like so much rotten Ikea particleboard.
But Knausgaard also acknowledges that all of his Viking impulses are of course why the progressivism he describes as characterizing the modern Swedish marriage is necessary. If man is a disease, this is the cure: mating in partnership, being a husband of deference rather than one of dominance.
Force Majeure implies this too, and until his betrayal Tomas seems to be a good Swedish husband, kindly doing his to part to tend to his fussy children (like My Struggle, the movie mostly represents children not even as love souvenirs but as pure and simple fetters, treat-grubbing little complainers). But his flight exposes that it was a sham, forces us to confront that maybe we knew it was a sham all along.
For the pathologically serious Karl Ove, marriage is the only way. He needs Linda, tells her that he wants them to have children together the morning after they sleep together for the first time. Later he admits that the period in which he was happy with Linda only lasted six months, which is surely part of the reason the real Linda cried when she read Book Two (something Knausgaard told The Guardian). But at least he paints everything with the same brush, and embraces the detritus of his relationship along with his failures. His honesty might sting, but one has the sense that his nastiness is out in the open, rather than hidden and waiting to erupt.
Yesterday, I suggested \u201CBaywatch\u201D as a fun quarantine movie. I don\u2019t regret it, and if you watched it, I\u2019ll bet you a dime you felt the same way. But today is a new day, and we\u2019ve been hard at work. My better half, Mary Florence, is hard at work for the Mayor\u2019s office, helping to keep NYC running and people safe from our living room; just because the city\u2019s under lockdown doesn\u2019t mean people don\u2019t need services, and it\u2019s important that we all remember the hard work that our public servants, social workers, childcare workers, janitors, transit workers, first responders, doctors, nurses, home health aides and teachers are putting in right now.
Before I get to today\u2019s film, I also want to make a special note about two classes of workers that are especially important to keeping us all happy, healthy and alive: service employees and truck drivers. You literally would not be able to buy food or medicine without someone at the store to stock shelves and cash you out, and those stores wouldn\u2019t have anything on the shelves without the truck drivers who continue driving through the night across the country.
Of course, the hardest working person in the country right now is Guapo the Dog, as you can see from this photo here. He\u2019s really been pulling his weight and has been on conference calls NON-STOP since this started.
In \u201CForce Majeure,\u201D Swedish director Ruben \u00D6stlund relishes picking apart the absurdity and vanity of a wealthy, coddled couple on a ski vacation in the Alps. The story is fairly simple: A husband, wife and their two kids are staying at an expensive chalet when one day during lunch an artificially induced avalanche tumbles down the mountain and momentarily appears like it is going to destroy the restaurant. It doesn\u2019t, and everyone is physically fine, but it turns out that rather than trying to save his wife and kids, the husband instead took his cell phone and sunglasses from the table and ran away. Lots of tears, biting conversations, and awkward dinners with new acquaintances ensue.
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