• For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.

Downhill

Decreed_It

I'd rather be skiing
Skier
Joined
Jan 9, 2019
Posts
905
Location
Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia

CalG

Out on the slopes
Pass Pulled
Joined
Feb 5, 2017
Posts
1,962
Location
Vt
I think I would like this film.

But then, I do like W.F. on screen.
 

LiquidFeet

instructor
Instructor
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
6,697
Location
New England
I had a negative reaction to the original film. The review that convinced me to watch it said the producer/director had a lot of experience skiing and so this film portrayed skiing realistically. So watching the film I was looking forward to that aspect.

There was an episode in the film where there was a white-out due to fog while the family was out skiing groomers together. The wife gets separated from the father and two kids as they are skiing; she has dropped behind and can't be seen. Dad takes his skis off and walks back uphill into the enclosing fog to find her, leaving us watching and waiting with the two kids. Finally out of the fog comes dad, walking back, carrying his wife (no skis) in his arms. He's bringing her back to the family. Out there on a groomer, somewhere up on the mountain, in a dense white-out. Without her skis. We do not find out how they get back down to the base. As the movie continues, it turns out she is not injured. I guess she was frightened enough from being lost in the fog to not be able to walk?? I found that unbelievable and lost my trust in the film.

The original was atmospherically dark. That is what I remember the most: that intense, cold, unfriendly, silent, lonely mood enclosing a family's attempt to have "fun" at a big European resort - when it's just not working. The new movie appears to have replaced that emotionally frigid mood with humor. I'm eager to see it.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
Skier
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Posts
4,804
Location
Whitefish, MT
It has Will Ferrell in it. Pass. He's on my instant turnoff list, along with Keira Knightly, Nicholas Cage, and Donald Sutherland. (I wonder what aspect they have in common? There's just something about them that grates. Then there's Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise, but I know what that's about.)
 

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
Skier
Team Gathermeister
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 14, 2015
Posts
12,612
Location
Maine
Yeah, not a fan of either of the leads. :huh:
 

Philpug

Notorious P.U.G.
Admin
SkiTalk Tester
Joined
Nov 1, 2015
Posts
42,624
Location
Reno, eNVy
Thank you. I am not a Will Ferrell fan either, he always just seems over the top in everything he does.
 

Jerez

Skiing the powder
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 25, 2015
Posts
2,992
Location
New Mexico
Hated the Force Majeure film. It begged for a spoof IMO. Not a fan of either star, but I'll watch it, just to see them parody the overwrought original.
 

Crank

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Dec 19, 2015
Posts
2,623
I had a negative reaction to the original film. The review that convinced me to watch it said the producer/director had a lot of experience skiing and so this film portrayed skiing realistically. So watching the film I was looking forward to that aspect.

There was an episode in the film where there was a white-out due to fog while the family was out skiing groomers together. The wife gets separated from the father and two kids as they are skiing; she has dropped behind and can't be seen. Dad takes his skis off and walks back uphill into the enclosing fog to find her, leaving us watching and waiting with the two kids. Finally out of the fog comes dad, walking back, carrying his wife (no skis) in his arms. He's bringing her back to the family. Out there on a groomer, somewhere up on the mountain, in a dense white-out. Without her skis. We do not find out how they get back down to the base. As the movie continues, it turns out she is not injured. I guess she was frightened enough from being lost in the fog to not be able to walk?? I found that unbelievable and lost my trust in the film.

The original was atmospherically dark. That is what I remember the most: that intense, cold, unfriendly, silent, lonely mood enclosing a family's attempt to have "fun" at a big European resort - when it's just not working. The new movie appears to have replaced that emotionally frigid mood with humor. I'm eager to see it.

I was skiing with a woman in our ski club on a very white day like that in Val d'Isere last year and she got vertigo, could not ski, could not really even stand. We called patrol to take her down but I could see carrying her for a bit. Hey it's a movie, not reality. Having said that as an overall European ski trip it looked pretty real. Certainly more real than 99% of ski films. Not that you could really call it a ski film...more a film with skiing.

I liked the original film. Not sure what to make of the remake but will eventually watch it on TV.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
Skier
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Posts
4,804
Location
Whitefish, MT
There was a story going around the mountain here a few years back that an instructor group visiting from North Carolina had one of them need a sled ride down the hill due to fog. I've certainly totally lost my bearings here more than once. So why that scene seems unreal to you, @LiquidFeet, is a mystery. Maybe he couldn't carry her and the skis. Maybe she was having a panic attack about the fog. Given that the vertical on those mountains in the Alps is way more than here, I could see anyone losing it. No trees. Here I've collided (slowly) with a tree that was covered in time and no help at all in the fog. There's a point that the fog can become so dense that it's just you and your feet.
 

LiquidFeet

instructor
Instructor
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
6,697
Location
New England
So what's he gonna do with her when he sets her down? He and the kids have skis. There's NO ONE in sight. This was no narrow trail; it looked wide and totally treeless, or at least that's what I remember. It doesn't seem possible that he could walk back up and find her skis, then come back down and find them, but maybe following his footsteps he could. Maybe also they have their phones with them and have reception up there.

This episode seemed unrealistic to me. I think I was insulted on behalf of all women when the heroic hubby carried the faint-hearted wife back to the safety of her family. Call me skeptical. Or call me oversensitive.

On the other hand, I'm willing to be convinced if I'm overlooking the obvious. Do husbands carry their wives back to the children, sans skis, when they suffer from (something) in a white-out?
 
Last edited:

Marker

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Posts
2,350
Location
Kennett Square, PA & Killington, VT
No problem with these actors, so I'll be happy to see it! I'm a fan of movies that are so stupid they are funny, but they tend not to age well. So few really hit the mark.
 

cantunamunch

Meh
Skier
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Posts
21,883
Location
Behavioral sink
So what's he gonna do with her when he sets her down? He and the kids have skis. There's NO ONE in sight. This was no narrow trail; it looked wide and totally treeless, or at least that's what I remember. It doesn't seem possible that he could walk back up and find her skis, then come back down and find them, but maybe following his footsteps he could. Maybe also they have their phones with them and have reception up there.

The practical person would leave his skis and have the wife hold onto his waist/shoulder/belt and step where he does as he heel-kicks his way downhill. If she is undergoing a panic attack there is absolutely no way she is going to get onto the skis and be physically separated from the rescuer.

I have been in enough similar scenarios that your description seems entirely realistic to me. Panic attacks are very real and putting the person back on skis in a desolate or featureless environment is not the answer.

I don't know what the movie will do.
 

LiquidFeet

instructor
Instructor
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
6,697
Location
New England
Yep, I have not been in a situation where someone had a panic attack in a white-out. So I give in to those with experience who say this part of the movie is realistic. I still don't like this part of the movie, for reasons that are probably not relevant.
 

geepers

Skiing the powder
Skier
Joined
May 12, 2018
Posts
4,256
Location
Wanaka, New Zealand
Of course it's not realistic to leave your 2 kids and troop off into the fog to 'rescue' another adult. That's a good way to have 2 lost kids.

The realistic bit - in the trailer - is when the husband abandons his family but saves his mobile phone when it looks like an avalanche is going to engulf them. Priorities. ;)
 

Swede

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Jan 29, 2016
Posts
2,390
Location
Sweden
Original movie title ”Tourist”. Director Ruben Östlund is a skier/boarder who did a couple of seasons in the French Alpes. Has made some ski films, ”Free Radicals” the most sucessful. I thought Tourist/Force Majeure was pretty interesting and I don’t think the ”rescue” scene should be literally taken, it’s almost like a dream. Can’t really see where this version will with that cast, perhaps it will surprise?

 

James

Out There
Instructor
Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
24,419
I guess she was frightened enough from being lost in the fog to not be able to walk?? I found that unbelievable and lost my trust in the film.
It’s actually believable in the Alps. Sort of. Leaving the kids is a little questionable, but if they don’t move they’re ok. I’ve fallen over standing still in a whiteout. It’s pretty freaky. Europeans are much more used to it than general US skiers.
Some years ago, friends knew someone who was skiing in the Alps. Forget where. Skied off the piste in a storm, fell over a small cliff and got seriously injured. Medical flight home. When they came to rescue her at the bottom of the cliff, they found someone else there dead and quite frozen.

Agree on the original, just too dark, heavy, somewhat plodding, and not that interesting. I think the sound mix bugged me with the dialog. I saw it on a plane going skiing so there it was ok.
 

Sponsor

Staff online

Top