Before he wowed Cannes with his Palme d’Or-winning The Square, Ruben Östlund won plaudits for this skiing vacation from hell satire.
Tomas, Ebba and their two beautiful children are the picture-perfect image of the Swedish nuclear family. They’re on holiday in the French Alps and enjoying themselves when a potentially life-threatening event causes Ebba to see Thomas in a new light. Slowly, the family unravels, Thomas’ image of the perfect alpha male is in tatters and there seems to be no going back. This could be a tragedy, but Östlund milks the scenario for every last moment of biting humour, poking fun at the brittle nature of machismo and questioning the stereotype of the traditional family structure. It’s beautifully shot, perfectly performed – with some great cameos by actor-turned-filmmaker Brady Corbet and Game of Thrones star Kristofer Hivju – and very, very funny.
