Force majeure

A typical middle-class Swedish family travels to the French Alps for a skiing vacation in a picturesque natural setting. With the snow illuminating the beautiful snow-capped mountains, they enjoy their idyllic surroundings, at least for a while. Tomas and Ebba’s peaceful vacation is disturbed by an avalanche that surprises them during their lunch at the hotel restaurant. This turns out to be harmless, but it has a lasting impact on their marital relations. As Ebba protects her children in the face of danger, her husband instinctively flees the scene. While she initially tries to turn the whole situation into a joke, she is bothered more and more by her husband’s selfishness, which came to light under such dramatic circumstances. With humor and a large dose of the absurd, Ruben Östlund explores their marital crisis, and the most important questions that he asks concern the role of the man in modern culture. Does the man, in accordance with tradition, have to be the head of the family? What roles does the man play, in fact? Do family relations not need to be re-evaluated and redefined?