Normal (2003 film): Difference between revisions

{{Film IMDb refimprove|date=March 2017}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Normal

| caption =

| image = Normal FilmPoster.jpeg

| director = [[Jane Anderson]]

| producer = Thomas J. Busch<br />Cary Brokaw<br />Lydia Dean Pilcher

| writer = [[Jane Anderson]]

| starring = [[Jessica Lange]]<br />[[Tom Wilkinson]]

| music = [[Alex Wurman]]

| cinematography = Alar Kivilo

| editing = [[Lisa Fruchtman]]

| distributor = [[HBO Films]]

| released = {{Film date|2003|1|21|[[Sundance Film Festival|Sundance]]}}

| runtime = 110 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

'''''Normal''''' is a 2003 American [[drama (film and television)|drama film]] produced by [[HBO Films]], which became an official selection at the 2003 [[Sundance Film Festival]].<ref name="James">{{cite web |last1=James |first1=Andrea |title=Film review: Jane Anderson's "Normal" |url=https://www.transgendermap.com/info/normal.html |website=www.transgendermap.com |date=21 January 2003 |accessdate=18 December 2018}}</ref> [[Jane Anderson]], the film's [[screenwriter|writer]] and [[film director|director]], adapted her own play, ''Looking for Normal''. The film is about a fictional [[Midwestern United States|Midwestern]] factory worker named Roy Applewood, who stuns his wife of 25 years by saying he wishes to undergo [[sex reassignment surgery]] and [[transitioning (transgender)|transition]] to a woman.

In an HBO interview, Anderson was asked "Were you drawing on any sources when you were researching this? Or was it purely out of your imagination?", to which she replied "Oh, it's my imagination, it's all fiction." She also said that she wanted to use the film as a metaphor for the study of marriage, calling transition the "ultimate betrayal".<ref name="HBO Interview">{{cite web | url=https://www.hbo.com/films/normal/interviews/jane_anderson.html | title=HBO Online Exclusive Interview with Jane Anderson | publisher=HBO | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205124915/https://www.hbo.com/films/normal/interviews/jane_anderson.html | archive-date=2009-02-05 }}</ref>

Roy Applewood ([[Tom Wilkinson]]), after fainting on the night of 25th marriage anniversary, shocks his wife Irma ([[Jessica Lange]]) by revealing plans to transition into a woman named Ruth. While Ruth tries to keep the family together, Irma's initial reaction is to separate from her. Patty Ann ([[Hayden Panettiere]]), their daughter, is more accepting, but Wayne ([[Joseph Sikora]]), their son, struggles with the transition. He mocks Ruth after receiving an explanation letter.

The movie follows the fictitious story of the character Ruth in the depiction of her transition. She buys women's clothes, wears earrings and puts on perfume. She finds graffiti on her truck "You are not normal". Her mother decides not to tell her father. She is kicked out of church choir. Irma finds Ruth in the barn with a gun to her head. She invites her back home. Her teen daughter just got her period and doesn't like being a girl. Son Wayne comes home for Thanksgiving and ends up in a fist fight with Ruth. The son yells obscenities at her and then cries in her arms. After a year passes she goes in for surgery with full support of Irma.

* [[Tom Wilkinson]] as Ruth Applewood

Robert Pardi of ''[[TV Guide]]'', reviewed the film and stated "Writer-director Jane Anderson tries to shoehorn her own play into the TV-tragedy", "but it's an awkward fit" and "Although the performances are superb, the film's detachment doesn't suit the bizarre material".<ref>{{cite web |first=Robert |last=Pardi |title=Normal, TV Guide |url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/normal/review/137285/ |website=TVGuide.com |accessdate=18 December 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

On [[Rotten Tomatoes]] the film has an approval rating of 100% based on 7 reviews, and an average rating of 7.2/10.<ref name="tomatoes">{{cite web |title= Normal |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/normal/ |accessdate= 28 August 2018 }}</ref>

Andrea from transgendermap.com noted "outstanding job of illustrating the main difficulties faced by blue-collar transsexual women in small towns" and the film contained "surprising amount of appropriate humor".<ref name="James"/>

Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson both received acting nominations for the Golden Globes, Primetime Emmy's and [[Satellite Awards]].<ref>Jerry Roberts {{google books|kW8j6sHvrewC|Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors|page=8}}</ref>

| rowspan="6"| [[Primetime Emmy Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000223/2003?ref_=ttawd_ev_2|title=Primetime Emmy Awards (2003)|publisher=[[IMDb]]|accessdate=February 10, 2014}}</ref>

| Jane Anderson<ref>{{cite web |title=Me and My Emmy: Jane Anderson |url=http://www.emmys.com/news/me-my-emmy/me-and-my-emmy-jane-anderson |website=Television Academy |date=26 February 2016 |accessdate=18 December 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>Neil Landau {{google books|WmaN9ac3rPcC|The Screenwriter’s Roadmap: 21 Ways to Jumpstart Your Story|page=16}}</ref>

| [[Directors Guild of America]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000212/2004?ref_=ttawd_ev_4|title=Directors Guild of America, USA (2004)|publisher=[[IMDb]]|accessdate=February 10, 2014}}</ref>

| [[Directors Guild of America|Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Movie for Television]]

| [[GLAAD Media Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000286/2004?ref_=ttawd_ev_5|title=GLAAD Media Awards (2004)|publisher=[[IMDb]]|accessdate=February 10, 2014}}</ref>

| rowspan="3"| [[Golden Globe Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000292/2004?ref_=ttawd_ev_1|title=Golden Globes, USA (2004)|publisher=[[IMDb]]|accessdate=February 10, 2014}}</ref>

| [[Gracie Allen Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000966/2004?ref_=ttawd_ev_6|title=Gracie Allen Awards (2004)|publisher=[[IMDb]]|accessdate=February 2, 2014}}</ref>

| rowspan="3"| [[Satellite Awards]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000296/2004?ref_=ttawd_ev_9|title=Satellite Awards (2004)|publisher=[[IMDb]]|accessdate=February 10, 2014}}</ref>

<references />

[[Category:American films]]

[[Category:English-language films]]

[[Category:American drama films]]

[[Category:American LGBT-related films]]