7) Force Majeure
Cringe is the lingua franca in Ruben Östlund’s observantly written, gorgeously shot, and riotously funny interrogation of social mores, Force Majeure. On trial is an unspectacular Swedish family getting away from it all in the French Alps. A snafu over breakfast snowballs into an all-out referendum on gender roles, parental responsibility, and relationship dynamics that envelopes everything and everyone in its wake. An awkward two-hour tango around a conversation no one wants to acknowledge exists, let alone actually have, Force Majeure starts as bourgeoisie satire, but builds towards hilarious, uncomfortable universality when the truth has to constantly mogul between self-deception and rationalizing.
The film leaves it up to the viewer as to who’s right or wrong, and if anyone could be either, but the precision of Östlund’s direction is anything but ambiguous. Racked focus has the punch of a pratfall when empty slopes and chalet halls are making room for everything that’s not being said when people desperately want to put an embarrassment to bed, so long as it’s on their own terms. It’s that control which elevates Force Majeure from being just a handsome, intimate piece of Schadenfreude to a painfully memorable experience that will cause plenty of dicey conversation, and more than a few cancelled ski trips.
