StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Claudio Carvalho 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

ai sha In the opening scene there are pictures of the "perfect couple" in the newspapers, celebrating their anniversary of over twenty five years - which is a very long time. They must know each other inside out, every positives or negatives they might have. They live in a beautiful house, they have sweet children that are full of life and healthy. They seem to have everything in order and shows the fantasy like lifestyle of any couples future. However this story has one of the most shocking story lines I have ever seen in a movie. The husband has been hiding his true identity this whole time and confesses that he is a transgender woman, trapped inside of a mans body. This is highly shocking and the wife cannot accept this at first. Her reaction to his confession, although it is violent and cruel, it is definitely understanding. After being with the man for so long, she was completely convinced that she knew everything there is to know about him. She feels as if she has been lied to through out the whole relationship and her life is falling apart. Her gradual acceptance is also heartfelt and warm, as we see her suffering yet trying desperately to understand her husbands destiny, especially after witnessing him trying to commit suicide from the pressure he could not deal with anymore. This movie showed how natural it was for person to become transgender, and that it is not something they choose for themselves. Everyone is born with a gender, and in this case the physical aspect and the mental aspect were switched, and mismatched. How the wife, his co- worker, his boss all reacted show how real life society would react to this kind of situation. People are not educated to understand there are "different" types of people, and that they are normal in their own way. We are educated to believe that it is an abnormality, a disease, and a disorder instead of trying to reach out and understand their situation. The bullying that the main character experienced in his manly, work place also reflect on the amount of rejection society has towards indifferences. However we see that the unconditional love of the wife and the daughter, and gradually the son after some time, reveal that all the husband needed was support to get rid of all the anxieties he had been feeling. The indifferences did not change a person, it actually made the people around him more open minded and accepting to differences between people. This movie really opened up my world as well and helped me see something that I was taught was a type of "retardation" as well. Watching this movie helped me realize that we need to learn to love and accept each others indifferences no matter how hard it is.

tub82092 Normal is a drama film, in America which was released in 2003 by HBO Film. The film was written and directed by Jane Anderson. I like the movie because of the acting and the some technical qualities are really outstanding. In the film, Roy is a female who was born in a male body. He tries to face his real gender bravely after gets married with Irma for 25 years. Since he feels some struggle of being a man, he starts wearing woman's clothes, dresses and earrings in order to achieve his satisfaction; however, he is discriminated by everyone.I think this film would satisfied the fans of this genre because it shows some problems that transgender people usually face in the real society. Also, it is not easy to predict the plot and the ending of the film. For example, Roy's wife sometimes encourage Roy to be what he is but sometimes cannot accept the fact and want her "real husband" back. Camera angle is really wonderful. The director uses many "zoom in" effect to lead audience follow emotions more. In the birthday party of Roy's father, the camera move into Roy slowly while he is crying. Not only these days, transgender and transsexual people are usually get discriminated by the public. They also need to take many kinds of medicine which is really unhealthy for them. For example, Roy takes medicine in order to make his breast bigger and fill for his satisfaction.All in all, this is a lovely and touching film. Roy's family accept the fact supportably which represents that they love Roy a lot no matter how he is. Moreover, I think the society should not discriminate these people since they were born in this way.

superguido There are no words... As you watch this complex chef d'oeuvre, you'll find it easy to judge and point the finger like everyone else around "Ruth". Then you'll realize the movie isn't about him, it's about his wife. You'll see that finger come back to you pretty quickly and the judgments will stay put as you try to imagine how you would react, cope and live your life if this happened to you.Jessica Lange has come a long way since King Kong. No longer the sexpot counterpart of Jack Nicholson, she holds her own opposite Tom Wilkinson and really shows us she has only gotten better since her fantastic portrayal of Frances Farmer in "Frances"