Force Majeure stirs up a moral quandary high in the mountains
REVIEW: This icy cold relationship procedural will chill you to the bone for some time to come. And also put you off a holiday at the snow!
Leigh Paatsch
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Force Majeure (M)
Director: Ruben Östlund (Play)
Starring:Johannes Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Kristofer Hivju, Clara Wettergren.
Rating: ****
Everything went white. Then everything went wrong.
In the aftermath of Gone Girl, most viewers could be forgiven for needing a break from inter-marital trials and tribulations for a while.
However, if you’re feeling strong enough, do not let the stunning new Swedish drama Force Majeure pass you by during its short stay in Australian cinemas.
For this icy-cold relationship procedural will chill you to the bone for some time to come.
Proceedings open with pleasant scenes of a typical young family on holiday at an elite French ski resort. Don’t be duped by the amiable nature of the opening. Good times are a fleeting mirage here.
The family quartet (a father, mother, and their two children) is seated at a balcony restaurant table. A mini-avalanche strikes without warning.
The mother splays herself across her kids, and braces for the worst. The father grabs his phone and makes a run for it.
The fallout from this incident is imperceptible at first, then amplifies in magnitude as everyone tries to process what has happened.
The recollections of those who were there differ in small, but crucial details. The varying interpretations of those who did not witness the incident only add to the tension in the air.
Driven by well-chosen words and random bursts of emotion, this gripping affair could function equally well as a stage play. However, the role that the alpine setting takes in proceedings is unsettlingly cinematic.
Writer-director Ruben Ostlund uses the overall design of the resort in a number of intimidating and deceptive ways (Kubrick’s The Shining is a clear influence on the stark cinematography of Fredrik Wenzel).
Without giving anything away, it is enough to put you off a powdery holiday for a year or two, that’s for sure.
A challenging piece of work no one will be forgetting in a hurry, try as they might. Highly recommended.
Originally published as Force Majeure stirs up a moral quandary high in the mountains
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