Force Majeure (French: [fɔʁs maʒœʁ]; Swedish: Turist, "tourist") is a 2014 black comedy film written and directed by Ruben Östlund.

It follows the marital tension resulting from an apparent avalanche in the French Alps, during which the husband prioritizes his escape over the safety of his wife and two children.

A Swedish businessman named Tomas, his Norwegian wife Ebba, their young daughter Vera, and their pre-schooler son Harry stay at a luxury resort in the French Alps.

Tomas, who is filming the avalanche on his phone, panics and runs as the deck quickly empties of patrons, leaving Ebba with their children engulfed in a dense fog.

After dinner and much wine, Ebba interrupts the conversation to recount the story of the avalanche, to the silent horror of Mats and Fanny.

Tomas curls up with Harry to play a video game, and listens to Mats who insists that we are not ourselves in emergencies, naming the Estonia disaster as an example.

Ebba gets lost in the fog, and Tomas briefly leaves the children alone to rescue her, returning carrying her down the slope shortly after.

As the family and their friends leave the resort by coach down the winding mountain road, Ebba decides the driver is incompetent after some erratic driving and, in a state of fear, demands to be let off and flees the bus.

[5] Ruben Östlund attributed the inspiration for the film's key scenes to a few viral YouTube videos which he felt corroborated the plausible situation and emotions of the characters.

The director reasoned that "...if someone captured an event or action or pang of emotion on camera and uploaded to the Internet, then it happened in real life.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Gleefully uncomfortable, Force Majeure is a relationship drama that's hard to watch — and just as difficult to ignore.

It was also selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards,[13] making the early round of shortlist, but was not a nominee.

[16] An English-language remake of the film starring Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, titled Downhill, was released in 2020.