Force Majeure is a Swedish foreign language film that follows a family on their vacation in the French Alps.
The film is an equal parts a comedy and drama that follows the Swedes as an untimely avalanche creates a rift through the family.
Force Majeure touches on themes relating to family dynamics, trust between partners and expectations.
Synopsis
Force Majeure follows a young Swedish family keen to hit the slopes of while on vacation. Parents Tomas and Ebba, seem to be just like any other loving couple at the resort. With two little kids (a primary school-aged boy and girl), the family have a fun schedule planned out for their time out of country.
However, things slowly start to go awry.
We follow both Tomas and Ebba as each slowly grows tense with the other over the course of a few days, ultimately leading to a hilarious climax when an avalanche alert takes place.
The avalanche doesn’t physically harm anyone in the family, however it affects the family in many other ways. Making for a pretty hostile environment.
The avalanche doesn’t physically harm anyone in the family, however it affects the family in many other ways. Making for a pretty hostile environment.
We follow the family as their vacation continues as both parents become furious with the other, leading to some revealing resentments being voiced as well as a host of other new issues emerging between them.
How will the vacation end, will they survive? And oh God, think about the children!
Important Themes
Tomas and Ebba can be described as being a part of your typical Swedish family.
According to statistics from the Swedish government, a typical family consists of a mother, father and two kids (a daughter aged 10 and a son aged 6). Which is bang on in comparison to the Swedish family in Force Majeure.
Swedes are also given 25 days a year of vacation time. 90 percent of families can afford to go abroad on vacation, and most do. A typical family will go on vacation during the summer and will also go abroad during the winter on a skiing holiday.
2018 statistics show that a total of 50,800 Swedes got married. Making for a ratio of 5 marriages for every 1,000 people, where a decade ago that ratio sat at 6.1 marriages per 1,000.
However, there were over 25,000 divorces in 2018. Making for every 1 of 2 marriages ending in divorce, a ratio that has been largely unchanged in the last 20 years.
However, there were over 25,000 divorces in 2018. Making for every 1 of 2 marriages ending in divorce, a ratio that has been largely unchanged in the last 20 years.
Why is the divorce rate so high, you may be asking? Divorce is usually looked at as a negative, which is to be expected. In contrast, many researchers believe that the high divorce rate is as a result of female empowerment.
Over the years, Swedish societal dynamics have become more gender-neutral. No longer are men regarded as breadwinners of their families, women are working more and patriarchal themes are less present in society.
Moreover, rates of divorce for women born in the country have remained steady over the years, but rates of divorce for women who have moved into the country are significantly proportionally higher. Leaving many researchers to believe that women who move from countries where values are more traditional, come to Sweden, gain more independence and agency to leave husbands who are not appreciating or carrying their equal load of relationships.
With that being said, trust between partners remains to be a growing issue worldwide and Sweden is no different. With less people actually communicating their emotions in real life as well as many other societal factors, trust is something that is becoming something that is hard to find for many. Even for married couples.
Force Majeure touches on this last point brilliantly. Providing a story that pushes a couple between a mountain and a hard place.
Conclusion
Force Majeure is a brilliant film. I really appreciated how subtle the humour was and how the whole story developed over the course of the film.
Force Majeure carried a sense of charm to it the full way through. Great acting (even by the kids) followed by a hilarious series of events. It had just the right amount of comedy, drama and everything in between.
Don’t miss out on Force Majeure. It’s a classic and you’re sure to enjoy everything from beginning to end.
