Normal

In the countryside of the United States of America, Irma Applewood (Jessica Lange) and her husband Roy Applewood (Tom Wilkinson) have been happily married for twenty-five years and they are model citizens in their community.

Roy brings Irma to meet Reverend Dale Muncie (Randall Arney), who is their pastor and friend, to tell that he is a woman trapped in a man's body and he will be submitted to a sex-change operation.

Now Roy has to face the deception of his wife and the intolerance of his colleagues, members of his church and his son Wayne (Joe Sikora). But Irma loves him and after the impact of the news, she understands and supports him with their teenage daughter Patty Ann (Hayden Panettiere) and Roy's boss Frank (Clancy Brown) that is their friend.

"Normal" is a great HBO movie with an ironic title about the life of a middle-aged couple married with children in a small town that is affected by the decision of the husband of changing his sex. The screenplay, direction and performances are top-notch, with Jessica Lange still very beautiful for a fifty-four year-old woman and awesome and courageous performance of Tom Wilkinson. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

This is a disturbing movie, one not easy to watch. Much more than the formula driven "dysfunction of the month" movie, this tackles a very real medical and sexual problem. It does so candidly and honestly, even using humour in several scenes. Yet it takes neither cheap nor trivial shots and never fails to show deep respect for the problem and for the characters affected by it. It must have been a hard sell to the producers, a movie delving into (and under) a subject that is little understood, which has small public sympathy and which is deeply disturbing to both men and women viewers. Yet it's encouraging that all the comments I read here on IMdb were similar to mine. There was nothing negative. I gave it an 8 rather than a 10 only because Jessica Lange may have been just too much of a saint. Yet who knows what any of us would do if confronted with such a situation in our own marriages. It sparked a good discussion between my wife and I. Any movie that gets you thinking and talking is a good movie.

Writing, acting, and direction were outstanding. I chuckled, laughed, brimmed with tears, during, and thought differently after this film. The character interaction captured so well the kinds of behavior one might see (but not necessarily expect) under such highly unusual circumstances. Midwest setting underscored the challenge and the humanity. HBO should release this to theaters next.

Excellent performances by Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson. The screenplay affirms the truth of the adage..."the things we do for love". And it distinguishes love and passion, delineating how each strengthens the other.

The writer/director eschews cliches, demonstrating how small events can sometimes tell a story more powerfully than moments of high drama,

I enjoyed it more on second viewing than first.

A beautifully written film, graced with a stunning, brave and transcendent performance from Tom Wilkinson, Normal proves that a sensitive subject can be handled tastefully, humorously, respectfully and with breathtaking subtlety. At the heart of this labor of love is the subject of the tediously restrictive and ultimately damaging nature of gender labels, but this is never depicted in a heavy-handed way; writer Jane Anderson instead creates genuine characters, human and struggling and all-too painfully real.