Though I doubt that Ostlund intended the film Force Majeure to dissuade people from skiing,it certainly had that effect on me, with its white-outs, avalanches and dangerous bus rides on mountain roads. A bourgeois family is having lunch after skiing and an avalanche heads their way. The husband Tomas (played by Johnanes Kuhnke) grabs his smartphone and runs, while Ebba (played by Lisa Loven Kongsli) struggles to flee with the two young children. The avalanche is controlled and everyone returns to their lunch, but Ebba cannot easily forgive Tomas. The "happy family" struggles to understand what happened and Tomas, who initially defended himself, breaks down in self-pity and the children think a divorce is imminent as they leave the resort.
Ostlund and his cinematographer, Fredrik Wenzel, capture the lonely beauty of skiing in the snow as well as the claustrophobia of the blonde wood of the hotel rooms, the widescreen shots emphasizing the difference between the creations of nature and of man. At night strange machines traverse the skiing areas as they groom the slopes, looking like something on another planet. Most shots, indoors and out, are long shots in long takes, capturing the members of the family together with their doubts and fears. Much of the film is simply conversation, especially a scene with another couple who are trying to understand what happened with Tomas and Ebba and end up turning on each other. The film, with its conversation and moral discussions, suggests that Ostlund is an heir and successor to certain other European directors who take a similar intellectual approach: Bergman, Rohmer, Atonioni, Dreyer, et al.
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