UN CERTAIN REGARD RENDEZ-VOUS – Turist by Ruben Östlund

The whole film actually arose from quite a simple idea: a family on a skiing holiday is eating lunch at an outdoor restaurant high up in the mountains. Suddenly, they see the beginnings of an avalanche tumbling down a distant mountainside. Everybody in the restaurant is initially excited, but as the avalanche breaks up and gets bigger the mood begins to change. Within three seconds, their cheering turns into nervous laughter and then into screams of total panic. The last thing that we see before everything turns white is the mother, Ebba, calling for her husband Tomas as she tries to protect their children. Tomas, meanwhile, is running for his life… abandoning his family. But the anticipated disaster fails to occur. Only snow mist reaches the restaurant, the avalanche stops 150 metres away. Tomas now has to return to the table and deal with his awaiting family and crumpled self-image.

 

I’ve been skiing in the in the French Alps many times and have always wanted to make a movie that takes place in a ski resort. But it was hard to find a scenario that I found engaging and existential enough in such a kitsch, neon-coloured environment. 

 

I will definitely remember the effort everyone put into the avalanche scene. One of our goals was to create the most spectacular avalanche scene in film history and I actually think we succeeded.

 

I’m fascinated that we humans find such joy in watching monkeys. I think it’s because we feel strongly connected to them and yet we can watch them without being embarrassed by their instinctual behaviour. It would be fantastic to let twelve naked actors play monkeys for two hours with a view to mirroring our own behaviours.