Force Majeure (Ruben Östlund, 2014)

[warren oates]

If SNL ever needs a replacement for Jebidiah Aktkinson...

[colinr0380]

I suddenly need to know your opinion on the disaster movie When Time Ran Out, david hare!

[warren oates]

Taken as a compliment my darling.

I do actually kind of mean it that way, david. Your passionate opinions at least come with the authority of knowledge and experience, unlike, ahem, some other folks around here who fancy dark headwear but tend to speak from the opposite end of their anatomy.

[Swift]

I've just watched the film, and I've seen it posited elsewhere that the final scene on the bus is a reversal of the initial incident where this time it's the wife who panics and leaves the bus without concern for her husband and kids. It turns out that the panic was unwarranted as the driver just backs up a bit and drives away. Suddenly, the group is stranded due to the wife's overreaction. The husband, realising this change in dynamic, lights up a cigarette in a moment of vindication.

I'm not sure I agree with it (the moment isn't as big a moment as the avalanche) but thought I'd put it out there.

Are there any thoughts on the role of the hotel janitor? Does he just represent the audience as voyeurs? I thought he may end up playing a bigger part in the story, and figured he was probably the one who put the chicken sticker on the door, but that element didn't go anywhere in the end.