FORCE MAJEURE

THE PLOT THUS FAR

A family on a ski holiday in the French Alps find themselves staring down an avalanche during lunch one day; in the aftermath, their dynamic has been shaken to its core, with a question mark hanging over their patriarch in particular.

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“Force Majeure” is a film about those primal moments where the human experience is shown raw. When a loving father is faced with his potential death, he abandons his wife and children. Unfortunately, they don’t die as the pending avalanche was nothing more than a strong snowy mist. The father is besmirched and trashed by his wife at every moment she can take to talk about it to others. Feeling like he has nothing left in the world, the Father breaks down and lets emotion take over.

I love dark humor. Make no mistake that this film is one of the darkest comedies in recent memory. Watching a domestic squabble over who would abandon others for self preservation is amazing. It’s like Bergman wrote an episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, but it’s not sunny and these are some reserved Swedes busting out at their emotional seams. I could’ve stood to see 20 minutes lobbed off the film to make the impact much leaner. If anything, the movie loses a lot of its punch because an audience has wait to so long for the balance to the film’s initial setup. I’m losing patience in my old age, so I can naturally see how this lead to the film getting snubbed for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination this year.

The DVD comes with a featurette and interview as the special features. The A/V Quality is on par for most recent standard definition drama releases. The transfer isn’t amazing, but it works. The same goes for the Dolby 5.1 audio track. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.

RELEASE DATE: 02/10/2015