DOWNHILL

US, 2020, 86 minutes, Colour.
Julia Louis- Dreyfus, Will Ferrell, Zach Woods, Zoe Chao, Miranda Otto.
Directed by Nat Faxon, Jim Rash.

Downhill is a remake of the Swedish film of 2014, Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure. The original film was very well received – this remake, Americanised, not well received.

The setting is the Austrian Alps, an American family on holiday, the father grieving over the death of his own father, an attempt to build up the spirit within the family. He is in business. His wife is an attorney, very matter-of-fact. They are played by Will Ferrell and Julia Louis- Dreyfus.

The key episode, early in the film, concerns an avalanche, the sound of an explosion, the snow falling and covering a group of tourists sitting on a hotel veranda. While the tourists fear the worst, as the snow approaches, the father stands and runs away from the table, returning after the subsiding, the mother and the boys shaken after their fears. The husband tries to explain away his behaviour, excusing himself, underplaying the impact of the avalanche.

The rest of the film shows the tension between husband and wife, their two boys not really wanting to be on holidays and skiing, preferring to watch movies in the hotel room.

The wife uses her attorney skills in confronting the authorities to make a complaint about the lack of warning about the avalanche. In fact, she is very strong-minded and so much of the dialogue of the film is the bickering between husband and wife.

There is a bizarre European character, played by Miranda Otto, who befriends the wife, is explicitly sexual in her conversations and behaviour, takes the wife in hand, setting up with a ski instructor.

In the meantime, the father’s friends who are travelling around Europe suddenly turn up, irritating the wife, who then recounts what happened in the avalanche, calling the two boys in to testify against their father.

While there is some reconciliation, the father admitting his behaviour, the mother mellowing a little, one wonders about their future.

1. The American family? On vacation? Tests

2. An American remake of the Swedish Force Majeure? An adequate remake? Harsh criticisms?

3. The Alpine settings, the mountains and snow, the skiing, the resorts? The musical score?

4. The introduction to the family? Parents? The two boys? The background, Pete and his work and phone contacts? Billie as an attorney? Pete’s father and his death and the after effects?

5. The decision to go for a holiday, skiing, Peter and his enthusiasm, Billie and her skills, the boys ultimately not wanting to be there, participating, but preferring to watch movies in the hotel?

6. The activities, the skiing, the effect?

7. The crisis with the avalanche, the tourists sitting at the table, the explosion, the snow advancing, the tourists watching, Billie and the boys, the snow, Peter getting up and leaving, Billie and the boys covered with snow, the fear, the aftermath? Pete and his return? His manner, ordering the soup, Billie and the boys and their reaction?

8. So much of the dialogue in bickering?

9. The crisis point, Pete and his continued explanations and excuses? Underplaying the avalanche? Billie and her reaction, the growing alienation, in the hotel rooms, distancing? The boys and their reticence? The continued activities, the boys and their reluctance?

10. Billie and Pete going to the authorities and making their complaint, Billie and her insistence?

11. Zach and Rosie, this story, travelling, bond with Pete? Unexpected arrival, Billie upset? The chat, the different perspectives? The story of the avalanche, Pete and his denials, Billie calling on the boys, their acknowledging that their father ran away? The consequences?

12. The character of Charlotte, eccentric, frank, sexuality, boyfriends, interest in Billie, the encounters, sexual behaviour, talking on the chairlift, arranging the ski instructor, Billie and the instructor, his advances, her reaction?

13. Pete, by himself, trying to entertain the boys, the decision to go to the top and ski down, the boys reluctant, returning, Pete returning? Billie and her skiing the slope?

14. Waiting at the bottom, Billie not arriving, Pete going up the slopes, carrying her down?

15. His apology, Billie’s reaction, the boys, possibility of the family becoming one again?