Force Majeure

The Chapter
Since it’s the last weekend together before daughter number one returns to uni. we headed off to The Chapter for food and a film.  (Ok – we don’t really need an excuse to go to the Chapter but go with it).
For food we ordered tortellini with a goats cheese and cranberry filling and with an arabiata sauce topped with rocket. It was well prepared and delicious but a touch too sweet (probably because of the cranberry) for my taste. The the girls ordered a couple of Chicken burgers (with bacon and cheese toppings and sweet potato fries) and a sirloin steak with fries in a peppercorn sauce.
The place was if anything even more packed than usual with the customary mix of cinema & theatre goers, hipsters and hipster watchers
We were warned that food would be 50 mins arriving and we normally take these warnings with a pinch of salt but this week it was all that and a little more. We didn’t mind though as Chapter is our fave place in Cardiff.
As it was the food arrived in the nick of time for us to scarf it down and get seated just in time to watch the film.

Force Majeure
The film Force Majeure is a Swedish comedy of the darkest hue. A comedy of manners that puts a microscope to relationships in general and specifically marriage.
At times it felt a bit like watching Abigail’s Party on skis so packed is it with perfectly judged pregnant pauses and hanging sentences. It begins with one character performing an unacceptably selfish act in the middle of an avalanche and then gives the audience different perspectives from which to view the ensuing relationship car-crash. The various “scenes from a marriage” are perfectly observed to the point where one moment we were laughing like drains and the next we were watching through our fingers, cringing at the accuracy of the awkwardness. The family scenes in particular were exquisitely en-point.
The writer of the subtitles surely deserves a prize of some sort as the audience were laughing throughout.

None of the characters gets off easy and each gets to show off their admirable acting chops.

A slightly weak ending aside this is an excellent watch – one of those films that reveals more and more in retrospect.

Highly recommended