A Perfectly Normal Family

Malou Reymann's 2020 Danish film starts from her own family. Emma is eleven, plays football, is close to her father and has an ordered life; everything changes when her father Thomas says he will begin living as a woman. Her mother chooses to separate, her older sister accepts it, and Emma becomes angry and sees her father as a source of shame. The film tells the process through the child's eyes and does not judge her reaction, while also showing Agnete's loneliness during her own transition. It avoids large dramatic scenes, advancing through everyday moments at the dinner table, after a match, on holiday. The tone is measured and the ending does not treat the reconciliation as complete. Who it's for: viewers who like family drama and Nordic cinema. Who it's not for: anyone expecting an easy reconciliation; the film delays it.