Force Majeure (spoilers)

Finally got around to watching it this weekend. For those that don't know, it's a Swedish film about a family on a ski vacation and the father runs away from the family during a controlled avalanche. Everyone is fine, and then the recriminations begin and reveal the fissures in the "perfect" family.

On the one hand, it's incredibly depressing to watch a family slowly fall apart, especially how the film brilliantly uses the children. They have very few lines, but the camera cuts to them and shows the effect of the words of the parents on the now sullen children. Especially when they wheedle some ice cream for breakfast out of their hungover mom. It's one of the saddest bowls of ice cream ever.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT

But what makes the film truly outstanding is the final 20 minutes. Tomas admits to all of his sins and weaknesses, and breaks down in front of his wife and then family. The children comfort him but Ebbe cannot. She's disgusted by his lack of masculinity, even though she's, and this is important, getting precisely what she wanted. She wouldn't let this thing drop, and now she gets total emotional victory, only to find its not what she wanted at all.

So I believe she sets up the need to be "saved" in the final ski run. It gives Tomas the chance to be a man again, and carry her down the hill in front of the children. His dominance is re-established and the kids, and the family, is happy again.

But on the final bus ride down the mountain, Ebbe panics and flees the bus... without her kids. It wasn't a real emergency. The bus driver was terrible, but they weren't going to die... but Tomas backs her play and he takes the kids off for her. This establishes a neat question of how much she over-reacted to the avalanche in the first place. But as they walk down the hill, a man offers Tomas a cigarette. He first refuses, but then takes it. When his child asks if he smokes, Tomas says yes.

Now, it could be seen that Tomas is asserting his masculinity again and being the alpha male, but I don't really think so. During his breakdown, he apologizes for every small lie he tells every single day of his life, and how it damages him as a person. He doesn't want to lie anymore. So this means admitting to your kids that yes, you smoke. It's him living up to his promise of honesty and not worrying about the image he presents, and instead actually being the person he claims to be.

Anyone else seen it? Alternative interpretations?