Rarely has a film taken men to the woodshed for their failings with such a mix of disgust, pity, and wit, the last of which is the key ingredient that helps make Force Majeure such a unique high-wire balancing act.

If anything undermines this knowing comedy of manners, it is the sense that it prides itself on being a knowing comedy of manners.

The acting is impeccably controlled, with leads Kuhnke and Kongsli sympathetically establishing the genteel, only slightly self-satisfied blandness of their characters, then tracing the cracks that spread in their makeup.

Östlund - with his usual narrative talent and ability to unsettle - questions the place of a man as the protector of his family in a film that's perhaps a little less provocative than his previous work. [Full review in Spanish]