Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater

Powerful

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

When a young family goes on a vacation they encounter what it seems to be an avalanche approaching them while eating. That terrifying moment left them alive but still had a major impact. That occasion brought to the surface everything that was left unsaid between the husband and wife. Originality of this movie lies in the clever combination of the setting and realistic portrait of emotions. Throughout the movie we see beautiful shots of Alps and their grandeur compared to human. Still, compared side by side, it looks like "force majeure" of nature is nothing compared to "force grand" of human emotions. Here we see that it is easier to control nature than oneself. This movie has some scenes which do break the flow, but it's important to recognize their true meaning. For example, there are several scenes where the couple brushes their teeth. Boring, isn't it? The point is that you can live with someone and do even the most private things together and still be separated. Force majeure or Tourist may have been named "Abyss between us".If you're tired of superficial storytelling without any meaning whatsoever with real life, you might want to check this one out.

This is fantastic. Very very awkward, but fantastic. My nails are bitten down to the bone, but fantastic. The entire thing is an incredible display of intense control. In the way it's shot, the characters and the way the actors portray them. The pacing and the set-up, the mounting tension, it becomes quite unbearable, until little scenes ease the pressure for a moment. It's like a metaphor for the avalanche at the centre of the story and the chaos it causes... just not the sort of damage you'd expect

In a society that is in constant change, sometimes it is difficult to know where your place is. And nowadays this feels harder than ever, with social networks, smartphones and constant connection to every corner of the world. So many things are happening that sometimes people are not sure about their position in society or family, or even what they are supposed to be and do. And this adjusting may be in particular hard for the ones that have been more privileged and have had more power. Not because they have lost privileges, but because they feel they are losing their position in the world, their prerogatives and rights. And it is hard for them to accept that.And that is what "Force Majeure" is about. A perfect family of four are having dinner in a restaurant when an avalanche happens. At first they take it as a thing to take pictures of and enjoy, a controlled avalanche. However little by little the avalanche comes closer to the restaurant... and the man decides to run for his life leaving his two children and wife behind.From that moment on we have a really engaging look on family, relationships, women and men's position on society and how difficult it is to the privileged to accept changes or their loss of power. By looking at a family, Östlund develops all these ideas in a subtle but never superficial way. The pace is slow and takes its time, but it never lets the viewer down and it adds little by little to the story. Some imaginary is too heavy-handed (like the toilet moments in particular), but in general the direction is spot on and all the moments have relevance to what is happening, with some touches of humor to stop the story to becoming too dark and broody."Force Majeure" is a really interesting movie.

Wounded machismo and domestic disintegration are the order of the day in Swedish director Ruben Ostlund's comedy drama Force Majeure. Holidaying together at a fancy ski resort in the French Alps, the family at the centre of the story are presented as the pinnacle of bliss and success. Mum Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and Dad Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) and both good-looking and financially comfortable, and along with their children Vera (Clara Wettergren) and Harry (Vincent Wettergren), make for a Kodak-cute unit, highlighted in the opening scene where they are badgered into posing for a few snaps by a tourist photographer. Tomas is taking a break from his busy work- life, and Ebba is happy to have her husband by her side for a week. As they ski, nap and dine together, frequent explosions - creating 'controlled avalanches' - boom in the distance, suggesting that something troubling is looming.On their second day. the family relax in a cafe when an avalanche starts to rush in the distance. What begins as curiosity and excitement soon turns to terror as it appears that the giant wall of snow is heading straight for them. They are engulfed in mist, but are relieved to discover that the avalanche came to a halt some way off. As the fog clears, Ebba still embraces her children, while Tomas is nowhere to be seen, although he has remembered to save his iPhone. It would seem that the husband and father isn't quite the man they thought he was, and this sets off an incredibly uncomfortable yet shrewdly funny breakdown of the photogenic unit over an increasingly long week away. At first, Tomas refuses to admit any wrongdoing, but is pecked away at by his wife and eventually confronted in two particularly uncomfortable scenes over dinner and drinks. Even his buddy Mats (Game of Thrones' Kristofer Hivju) struggles to defend his cowardly actions.Shot with a Michael Haneke-esque eye for emotional violence and domestic unravelling, Force Majeure is often far more awkward than the work of Ricky Gervais, thanks to Ostlund's ear for witty, realistic dialogue and some committed performances from the leads. Tomas' fall from hard-working patriarch to emasculated cry-baby is both brutal and utterly hilarious. Ostlund clearly doesn't like the privileged bourgeois, and has fun picking them apart. The most wince-inducing scenes are somewhat relieved by the comedic timing of Hivju, who inspires humour by merely reacting to the horror playing out in front of him, siding with his friend as his much-younger girlfriend Fanni (Fanni Metelius) comforts Ebba. The gender divide is drawn in the snow, and thanks for a conversation between Mats and Fanni where the latter throws hypotheticals at her recently-divorced fella, this is perhaps the worst film in the history of film to watch with your partner. While it could have benefited from a running-time trim, Force Majeure leaves you with the disturbing idea that you may never truly know the people closest to you.