Force
Majeure (Turist)
(2014)
An
arresting premise isn’t everything. That’s the major takeaway from Ruben Õstlund’s Force Majeure, a darkly
humorous study of the fallout from a supreme act of cowardice/self-preservation
on a family on a skiing holiday; dad flees an oncoming avalanche, leaving his
nearest and dearest to be engulfed.
I say
darkly humorous, as that’s clearly the intent (witness the use of Vivaldi as scenic
punctuation points, signalling grand folly), but I found the proceedings overwhelmingly
monotonous rather than astute or insightful. We can see Tomas (Johannes Bah
Kuhunke) is a self-involved parent right off the bat, one who spends little
quality time with his family. It doesn’t come as that much of a surprise when
he legs it after a controlled avalanche comes a bit too close for comfort,
leaving wife Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and two children to be enveloped in icy fog.
Once the coast is clear, Tomas saunters back to their balcony seats as if
nothing has happened, and it takes Ebba a spell to actually verbalise her
disdain for his behaviour. Which he denies (“I don’t share that interpretation of events” he says repeatedly,
attempting to reduce the experience to a mere difference of emphasis).
Various
conversations with other couples further explore what undoubtedly is a strong kernel. Mats (Kristofer
Hivju, readily recognisable from Game of
Thrones) and Fanni (Fanni Metelius) are themselves infected by the
implications of the event (“So maybe you
planned to go back and dig them out?” Mats offers, ridiculously), as Fanni
suggests Mats might have done the same thing in that situation.
But Force Majeure never really grasps hold
of its idea. Õstlund’s approach is too distancing
to turn this into a piece where we really analyse our own motives. Tomas’ act
is so comically chicken-livered, it has little resonance as something that
might make us question how we would respond, and the attempts to break down notional
masculine ideals lack depth (“I’m a
bloody victim of my own instincts!” cries Tomas over-dramatically). There are some curious little moments; a drone
plane the family have bought, which suddenly flies into Mats in the living room,
may be intended as a metaphor for how we remove ourselves from reality, and
thus have no capacity to deal with life-altering events when they slap us in
the face. Or it might just be a daft bit with a drone.
Later, a
pretend rescue is played out to “empower” Tomas (which ironically leaves the
kids on their own while he plays white knight to Ebba), and a final scene with
a bus driver who has watched The Italian
Job one too many times appears to be suggesting Ebba is also capable of rash
responses. Acclaimed as Force Majeure
has been, I found it determinedly unengaging, apparently intent on eschewing
anything truly thought provoking. Instead of this, you might want to check out
the Seinfeld episode The Fire, in which George bundles women
and children out of the way to escape a kid’s party when he thinks there’s a blaze
in the building. It’s actually funny, and covers the same ground in a sixth of
the running time.
