Jun 8, 2023·edited Jun 9, 2023Liked by Matthew Johnson
Great write up. I watched this movie the wrong way around. I watched the Will Ferrell "comedic" adaptation first Downhill I think it was called... then watching Force Majeure sometime later. Glutton I guess? But I love nuanced movies like this one... you know, movies that keeps you off balance the entire movie. They force you to watch the actor's nuanced performances for every eye roll, twitch, and glance to see if you can understand what is actually happening here. Particularly Lisa Kongsli's acting especially... which I think she crushes. (Definitely prefer her in this role to Julia Dreyfus in the same role. But maybe that's just me.)
I think you are 100% correct about the ending (not that my opinion is really all that validating save for the fact that one other human saw it the way you saw it?) and that your interpretation about how it all went down makes sense to me. But the thing that I found most interesting was how humans tend to build facts, and truths out of complete fantasies out of necessity. Tomas obviously ran. And yet, he had to believe, like in his soul, that he did not. Even faced with contra evidence to his own beliefs, he, I don't know, can't really even cope with it. "I agree that it looks like I'm running." I mean, come on. He HAS to have not run. He's dying out on this limb, while actively cutting it off simultaneously.
Another thing I found just amazingly realistic, and poignant is how everyone in this film beats the wife down... "see... you have to understand that it's the will to survive" you need to see it from a wider, more forgiving perspective. Society is telling her to let him off the hook, cut him slack (Reminds me a bit of the movie The Lobster and how society tells singles that they are required to get married). Also, Tomas tells his wife that "It doesn't matter how I perceived it, but you obviously thought it really dramatic... " (Read, 'I wasn't afraid'....... BUT YOU OBVIOUSLY WERE.) Which is BS in the extreme. But aligns with his utter petrification of being found out as a failure.
If a gunman appeared with me in a McDonald's or whatever - I believe I would run at them. This is a concrete fact in my soul. The odds of my running at a gunman though? I put it at an even 3%. On a good day. But I need to believe that I am that guy that will run towards and not away. But I'm probably not. And it actually causes me psychic pain to even say that outloud right here. I cannot be the coward. The failure. I have to be seen as the hero. With my family especially! And yet. Over the course of any given day? I screw up like Tomas did here a thousand different ways.
Anyway, I love films like this. Movies that are filled with nuance and that balance on the knife's edge of possible meaning. If you loved this film, a few others that sort of play in this space?? Maybe Personal Shopper, Killing of a Sacred Deer, Clouds of Sils Maria, On Body and Soul, and maybe Columbus?? Anyway - great write up. Keep it up. Personal favorite quote of the piece, "Yet, engaging with an idea, even when you disagree, is profoundly more interesting than the shallow dismissal too often applied." Couldn't agree more. Taylor
Hey Taylor, thanks for the comments and for reading! Great points and I completely agree with your thoughts on Lisa Kongsli. That performance holds up the entire film. You've given me some good recommendations, I haven't seen all the films you mentioned. I'll have to dive in and check those out.
Great write up. I watched this movie the wrong way around. I watched the Will Ferrell "comedic" adaptation first Downhill I think it was called... then watching Force Majeure sometime later. Glutton I guess? But I love nuanced movies like this one... you know, movies that keeps you off balance the entire movie. They force you to watch the actor's nuanced performances for every eye roll, twitch, and glance to see if you can understand what is actually happening here. Particularly Lisa Kongsli's acting especially... which I think she crushes. (Definitely prefer her in this role to Julia Dreyfus in the same role. But maybe that's just me.)
I think you are 100% correct about the ending (not that my opinion is really all that validating save for the fact that one other human saw it the way you saw it?) and that your interpretation about how it all went down makes sense to me. But the thing that I found most interesting was how humans tend to build facts, and truths out of complete fantasies out of necessity. Tomas obviously ran. And yet, he had to believe, like in his soul, that he did not. Even faced with contra evidence to his own beliefs, he, I don't know, can't really even cope with it. "I agree that it looks like I'm running." I mean, come on. He HAS to have not run. He's dying out on this limb, while actively cutting it off simultaneously.
Another thing I found just amazingly realistic, and poignant is how everyone in this film beats the wife down... "see... you have to understand that it's the will to survive" you need to see it from a wider, more forgiving perspective. Society is telling her to let him off the hook, cut him slack (Reminds me a bit of the movie The Lobster and how society tells singles that they are required to get married). Also, Tomas tells his wife that "It doesn't matter how I perceived it, but you obviously thought it really dramatic... " (Read, 'I wasn't afraid'....... BUT YOU OBVIOUSLY WERE.) Which is BS in the extreme. But aligns with his utter petrification of being found out as a failure.
If a gunman appeared with me in a McDonald's or whatever - I believe I would run at them. This is a concrete fact in my soul. The odds of my running at a gunman though? I put it at an even 3%. On a good day. But I need to believe that I am that guy that will run towards and not away. But I'm probably not. And it actually causes me psychic pain to even say that outloud right here. I cannot be the coward. The failure. I have to be seen as the hero. With my family especially! And yet. Over the course of any given day? I screw up like Tomas did here a thousand different ways.
Anyway, I love films like this. Movies that are filled with nuance and that balance on the knife's edge of possible meaning. If you loved this film, a few others that sort of play in this space?? Maybe Personal Shopper, Killing of a Sacred Deer, Clouds of Sils Maria, On Body and Soul, and maybe Columbus?? Anyway - great write up. Keep it up. Personal favorite quote of the piece, "Yet, engaging with an idea, even when you disagree, is profoundly more interesting than the shallow dismissal too often applied." Couldn't agree more. Taylor
Hey Taylor, thanks for the comments and for reading! Great points and I completely agree with your thoughts on Lisa Kongsli. That performance holds up the entire film. You've given me some good recommendations, I haven't seen all the films you mentioned. I'll have to dive in and check those out.
I loved this film and have only seen the original. Think I will skip the remake!