Downhill

When I saw the trailer for this I liked the premise and thought it could be interesting. An american remake of the Scandinavian original Force Majure, we see Will Ferrell and Julie Luis-Dreyfus as Pete and Billie, a couple on a Swiss Ski holiday with their two young sons.

The story suggests an undercurent, a problem between the two, he distracted by his mobile phone and her keen to remind him, but the problem is we never really fully understand what’s behind the characters behaviour or were they are heading.

That problem isn’t just with the characters, the whole film is unclear in what it wants to be. Its trailers suggest a comedy, but don’t go expecting that, Downhill is not a comedy and doesn’t really try to be, it’s much more a study of two people unsure of their relationship, unsure of their place in the world and unsure of their future together and you can feel that sense of hopelessness throughout the film and it feels like it catches that well.

The thing with Downhill is it’s a film that is trying to be clever, do something smart, trying to explore the desperation of people who feel trapped in life and in their relationship, feeling they could be doing more to live their “best life” and that film is in there somewhere (in its original source Force Majure I’m told). But it’s not in Downhill, which in reality never gets near delivering, not funny enough for those wanting comedy and not clear enough for those wanting a serious examination of Pete and Billies relationship.

Downhill isn’t really clear about the kind of film it wants to be and that shows in something that promises a good story but never gets close enough to delivering it.