In 'Force Majeure' a Swedish family, Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) , Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and their two children are on a skiing holiday in France when they find themselves in danger from an apparent avalanche. Ebba instinctively tries to protect the children but Tomas seems to run away to safety. The remainder of the film focuses on how the family and others they encounter respond to this moment of behaviour under stress.
Many will find this movie too long and lacking in action and it is indeed overlong and filled with plenty of static, dialogue free scenes. The creators also seem to be undecided on how to bring the film to a conclusion. In the final ten minutes I observed at least five possible endings emerging all of which are retained in the movie as though you should pick the ending you prefer along with the eventual 'non end' final moments. Despite all this I found the film curiously interesting.
For one thing, the many sights and sounds of how the snow resort is maintained and managed were fascinating to me as one unfamiliar with the skiing world. The oddly science fiction and mysterious nature of this activity had me intrigued. Secondly, the angles and stylistic photography appealed to me. Finally, the ginger headed Kuhnke is quite a spunk and notwithstanding his over the top, overwrought, big emotional scene, I could happily watch him for hours on end.
Not for everyone but I liked it.
★★★1/2
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