What is force majeure? Force majeure — or vis major — meaning "superior force,” is also known as cas fortuit or casus fortuitus or a "chance occurrence, unavoidable accident.” Director Ruben Östlund’s film uses this legal term Force Majeure as the title of his film, released in some countries under the less meaningful, alternate title Tourist. The term force majeure is used to describe an unusual situation that prevents one or both parties under a contract from fulfilling their obligations. In practice, most force majeure clauses do not excuse a party's non-performance entirely, but only suspends it for the duration of the force majeure. Some understanding of the legal term will enhance a viewer’s appreciation of this remarkable film.
 |
| Tomas with his cellphone--an item that matters in the "Lord Jim" moment |
Why then is Force
Majeure, the film, worthy of
being termed as a remarkable one?
First, director Östlund conceived and scripted the film all by
himself. Few directors are able to do
this. Ingmar Bergman and Naomi Kawase, are prominent among the select band of directors
who often did/do this. American director Damien Chazelle accomplished a similar
feat with the Oscar-winning Whiplash
in 2014. Most viewers do not differentiate a film adapting another work from
another medium from a film that is the director’s own original conceptualization.
Most viewers do not differentiate directors standing on the shoulders of very
competent and gifted co-scriptwriters from those directors who sculpt original
films based on their own imagination and acumen. Östlund is one of the latter
breed. He is able to conceive and develop a tale of a small, young Swedish
family enjoying a brief costly vacation in the Alps into a complex, compressed tale of 5 days of conflict, self realization,
and ultimate reconciliation, of not one but two sets of families that could
have taken years, if not decades, in real time for other families.
 |
| Developing the script from the ideal tourist family on holiday to present a complex tale of 5 days of conflict and resolution |
Second, Östlund in Force
Majeure deals with cowardice of principled “heroes” of society. The famous
novelist Polish novelist Joseph Conrad dealt with the precise subject in his
novel Lord Jim, made into a lovely
film in 1965 by Richard Brooks with Peter O’Toole in the leading role. O’Toole
played a ship’s captain, who in a rare moment of cowardice jumps off his
sinking ship into a lifeboat, not caring for the fate of his devout Muslim passengers
for whom there were no lifeboats, when by tradition the captain ought to have
been the last person to leave his sinking ship. In Force Majeure, Östlund is not discussing seafarers (though the
script does include mention of a recent Estonian tragedy with similar
trappings) but instead focuses on the bulwark of a good Swedish family—a
hardworking, successful 30-something male called Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuehnke),
with a devoted wife Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli), and their daughter Vera and son
Harry. Director/scriptwriter Östlund creates a convincing ‘Lord Jim’ situation
for his devoted family as they enjoy their second day of a 5-day holiday in a
plush hotel cum ski resort in the French segment of the Alps mountain range.
The US director Brooks adapting Conrad’s tale had a beautiful line in his film:
“It only takes a split second to make a
coward a hero or to turn a hero into a coward.” There is a huge difference
between an American director and a Scandinavian one—the latter is less obsessed
with words and more with visuals, sound and silence. The cowardice (and
heroism) is more to be perceived than heard in the Swedish film.
 |
| Tomas (Johannes Bah Kuehnke) accepting his cowardice |
Third, Östlund uses the scenario to make an indirect
commentary on male heads of families and their ability to care for the members
of the family, in contrast to women like Ebba whose maternal instinct to care
for the family at a moment of insecurity comes to the fore. In Force Majeure, the interesting script
deals with two male heads of families Tomas and Mats, and a contrasting mother (Charlotte)
they meet at the hotel , who like Ebba, is a mother of two but unlike Ebba wants
her free time, in which she is not distracted by her responsibilities to her husband
or children. (Interestingly the script, as in Kieselowski’s masterpiece Dekalog, where a strange silent individual
transects most tales, in Force Majeure too,
a silent hotel cleaning staff watches the various developments between the
couples with interest). All three,
Tomas, Mats, and Charlotte admit their lapses, big or small, directly and
indirectly, at various stages of the film in being a responsible part of their
respective family units. Charlotte indirectly admits her guilt by deferring to converse further on the observations of Ebba on the subject.
 |
| Even half asleep, the ringing phone is more important for Tomas (the male bread winner) than all else |
Fourth, Östlund uses unusual methods of filmmaking that will
upset the purist. Sometimes, in Force
Majeure, the speaker’s head is
out of the frame; the camera is more interested in the listeners rather than
the speaker. In a particular scene, the speaker, Ebba, walks around and sits
with her back to the camera, and the viewer gets to see only the listeners. The
Swedish director is breaking the cinematic conventions deliberately. Then there
are static exterior shots that end each day, or punctuate “acts” in the film as
in a play.
 |
| Static camera captures a mirror shot of all four members of the family brushing their teeth |
Fifth,
Östlund uses the ‘Summer’ segment of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons in a manner reminiscent of the curtain falling on a
proscenium stage at the end of each act. While one is befuddled by the choice
of the Summer segment, the effect is indeed
staggering. Most of the film does not
depend on the music of Vivaldi as much as it does on the use of sound of
ropeways or of creaking wooden floorboards.
The sound management in the Swedish film is top notch.
Finally, Östlund uses the time-tested Edward Albee technique
of the play/film Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? by pitting the major husband and wife duos’ problem on another
couple to extend the arguments of the film. And like Albee’s play there is
certain resolution of the conflicts. Even the strong Ebba towards the end of
the film shows the shades of a Don Quixote tilting at windmills, while
Charlotte appears more composed and practical in comparison to her. As the film
progresses, Tomas has occasion to redeem himself as a hero to his kids soon
after admitting his folly to his family.
The best part is arguably the final innocuous conversation between son and
father (Harry and Tomas). Harry asks Tomas “Do
you smoke, Papa?” on seeing his
father smoke for the first time and the father replies “Yes, I do.” Tomas is finally honest and Harry appreciates it. That honest answer puts much of what has preceded in
perspective and provides a final example of the director/scriptwriter’s
maturity evident in Force Majeure. The very child that earlier asked its parents to leave the hotel room, now looks up at his father with trust.
 |
| One parent who never cared about his own kids carry another's kid, while Harry learns from his father Tomas about his father's smoking habit for the first time |
Force Majeure is
not in the same league as certain important
and fascinating movies of 2014 such as Leviathan,
Still the Water, and Winter Sleep.
Force Majeure is nevertheless a
remarkable work that will make any astute viewer to sit up and admire the fresh
approach to cinematography, the excellent casting, and a thought provoking
original script where saving one’s cell phone (the link to your job and office)
is perhaps instinctively more important than saving members of your family.
P.S. Force Majeure won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The films mentioned
in the above review Lord Jim, Dekalog, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Leviathan, Still the Water, and WinterSleep have all been reviewed earlier on this blog.
No comments :
Post a Comment