Let’s play a game. Complete the sentence: “I would never…” What would you never do, under any circumstances? Didn’t break the law? Did not pass by someone who needs help? Did you leave your relatives? How many such “never” will be typed? We can be one hundred percent sure of ourselves, but there is always a risk that one day we will do things that are not usually characteristic of us and learn a lot about ourselves – perhaps not the most pleasant. About this Swedish film “Force Majeure”.
There are such families, incredibly happy, picture-prosperous. Parents who have not lost their romantic passion, obedient children, all together are ideal faces for the cover of a glossy magazine. Thomas and Ebba’s family seems to be just one of those. Dad works hard, mom takes care of the children, and now they all have a short vacation in a ski resort in the French Alps: five days of skiing on snow-white slopes, afternoon bliss and dinners with friends.
But something goes wrong: on the second day of rest, an avalanche is rapidly approaching the terrace where the family is having lunch, and Thomas flees in a panic, leaving his wife and children, but taking his phone and gloves. And although everything goes well, the veranda is only covered with a snowy fog, and a few minutes later, the shocked vacationers return to the meal – because of the incident, family relations give a crack that grows to the size of the abyss.
Under the “Storm” by Vivaldi, which sounds throughout the film, the characters are trying to figure out what happened. Thomas Ebb’s wife is actively experiencing the shock: she needs to figure out how to continue to live with someone who can no longer be trusted, and for this she utters her doubts, calls her friends to witness, shocking them with stories about the incident. It is important for her to hear the opinions of others, to make sure that they evaluate Thomas’ act in the same way as she does, because her husband goes into deep denial and does not admit that he abandoned his relatives. To agree with her version of events for him is to be completely disappointed in himself.
The truth is that we are often weaker and more cowardly than we used to think of ourselves, and primitive instincts may one day take over.
But deny, don’t deny, don’t shout, don’t shout, you can’t change what happened, just like you can’t undo Thomas’ momentary reaction to the threat. The hero is emotionally drowning in the space of the hotel, which looks like a giant unsinkable liner. To swim, he needs to understand how to live with himself and with a new bitter truth about himself.
Winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, Force Majeure is one of those films whose content sets the stage for reflection. The very first, quite natural thought, which you so want to limit yourself to: “I would never have done this (a).” We think we already know ourselves. But the truth is that the on-screen Thomas is the most ordinary person with quite typical shortcomings and weaknesses. And in the experiments of Stanley Milgram, ordinary people participated, many of them shocked the test subjects because they were told to do so. And it was not cold-blooded psychopaths who participated in Zimbardo’s prison experiment.
The truth is that we are often weaker and more cowardly than we are used to thinking about ourselves, which means that if something extraordinary happens to us, primal instincts can take over. Perhaps if you at least occasionally remind yourself of this, it will be easier to maintain a human form in the face of an avalanche or other danger. And perhaps less to condemn others, those who behaved “unworthy” in a critical situation.