ARTS & CULTURE
18 Obiter Dicta
Film reviews
» continued from page 12
children.
Expertly directed and frequently hilarious, Force
Majeure is a sophisticated thought experiment, provocative and wise, exploring the consequences of
male weakness in a world in which men are expected
to be strong at all times. Each new wrinkle in the scenario makes you squirm and recognize some rarelybroached truth. It’s a penetrating study of that most
ludicrous of social pretences – masculinity, toxic and
ubiquitous – with secret reserves of compassion once
you’ve peeped out from between your fingers.
Building riotously via a series of verbal takedowns
as male authority goes limp in the wake of a regrettable impulse, the film becomes a viciously amusing
takedown of bourgeoisie complacency and gender
stereotypes, chronicling the emotional free fall that
occurs when a man and his marriage can’t live up to
impossible expectations. A testy, laugh-as-you-wince
experience that makes you murmur in amazement as
you brood on the darkest corners in our lives, it rubs
your face in human frailty and the illusion of security as relentlessly as anything in Michael Haneke’s
oeuvre.
Östlund skips a perfect ending to reach an ambiguous final act that’s not as neatly satisfying, and it’s not
as unflinching as 2010 chart-topper Blue Valentine.
Yet, despite the chilly setting and snowy veneers, it
has a heart that burns wickedly, airing out the dirty
laundry for all to see. Indeed, it’s the harshest date
movie to come out of the WW&