Part way through the movie, at a counselling session, the mother suggests a formal goodbye, or a type of funeral, for the father. This wasn't taken up, but I think Emma would have handled her father's transition a lot better if that had happened.
There should have been a lot more discussion to help her come to terms with the whole situation.
It was a touching movie and Kaya Toft Loholt deserved her awards.
Plot summary
Emma has a perfectly normal family until one day it turns out her dad, Thomas, is transgender. As Thomas becomes Agnete, both father and daughter struggle to hold on to what they had while accepting that everything has changed.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Tech specs
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 854.08 MB
1280*690
Danish 2.0
NR
Movie Reviews
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A tough time for a young girl
Reviewed by
Being transgender doesn't give you a bye
The Danish film En helt almindelig familie (2020) was shown in the U.S. with the translated title A Perfectly Normal Family. The movie was co-written and directed by Malou Reymann.
The film stars Mikkel Boe Følsgaard as Thomas, a married man with two children. Thomas changes his gender, and becomes Agnete. Obviously, this puts tremendous stress on his children and his wife. However, the children are managing.
The real protagonist of the film is Agnete's younger daughter Emma, portrayed by Kaya Toft Loholt. Emma bears up reasonably well, considering the situation.
However, Agnete then decides to move to England for a new job. This is called abandonment. Changing gender is one thing. Leaving your teenage daughters behind is another. The film was well acted and very professional. However, director Reymann ends on a happy note, with the girls enjoying their visit to London. Everyone is smiling and happy, and it's supposed to be a feel-good picture. I didn't feel good about this picture, and the tacked-on happy ending didn't impress me.
We saw this film at Rochester's great ImageOut LGBTQ Film Festival. (This year it's virtual.) This movie has an IMDb rating of 7.0. I didn't like it, and rated it 4.
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Not being a jerk is also an option
In the first half of this typically Danish little film I was afraid it would come down to the obligatory gooey pamphlet that calls for more understanding for transgender people. Fortunately, I would like to say, you can also look at the story from another side. As the film progressed, I felt it became more and more of a call to not only think about your own needs and feelings when you have (young) children. Is changing gender really more important than your child's happiness at a vulnerable age? I would think this is a brave question in these times when nuance usually loses out in emancipatory issues.