Normal (2003)

An intense yet unsensational film about a mature couple in the American mid-west; the husband has decided to come out as a transsexual and to transition.

There is fairly widespread incomprehension from everyone else about what this implies for the future, and the husband, Roy, doesn't play the cards in his hand particularly well.

The film is one of the most sympathetic portrayals of late-onset transition around: matters of marriage and children are rarely issues for women who do this at an early age, but it is probably the most difficult part of this for older women. It's the emotional equivalent of someone transitioning in her teens telling her parents.

Writer/director Jane Anderson's great script (adapted from her play "Looking for Normal") has a surprising amount of appropriate humour, and the lead role was acted superbly by the British Tom Wilkinson as Ruth. He skilfully portrayed the nondescript male role many transsexual women adopt to fit into American society: likeable, yet unremarkable, since they have suppressed a huge part of who they really are. Jessica Lange plays Ruth's wife Irma, and she is fantastic as a small-town wife struggling to reach acceptance in fits and starts.

In terms of following Roy's/Ruth's example, Normal is also a textbook case of how not to go about the practical aspects of transition. When Ruth first starts to deal with her feelings, she shows up at work at the farm machinery factory with perfume on, without having done a single thing - no facial hair removal, no grown out hair, no hormones, no therapy, nothing. The other workers on the line aren't too receptive to this, as you might imagine, and things worsen when she wears earrings a few days later while still looking completely male. Luckily for Ruth, her boss is sympathetic and moves her off the floor to an office job following a fight in the locker room.

One of the most interesting aspects of the film was the attempt to seek guidance and acceptance at church. Both are very active members, and watching the agony of them being slowly ostracized from that fellowship was unfortunately far too accurate. Randall Arney plays the Protestant minister brilliantly. After Ruth divulges her feelings during a marriage counselling session, the minister searches for guidance in the Bible (he quotes Ephesians 5:28-9 and other commonly recited passages). When this and other attempts to discourage Ruth fail, the minister resorts to ostracism and eventually tells Irma she is allowed to leave Ruth without sin. (I thought the funniest line was when he had found some church-sponsored material rationalising the issues of transsexuality; he offers it enthusiastically to Roy/Ruth and Irma, saying defensively, that it is Baptist material, but it's nonetheless quite useful.)

Hayden Panettiere does a standout job as the tomboyish daughter, as did Clancy Brown as Ruth's salt-of-the earth yet accepting boss. One of the more interesting twists in the film is one some late-transitioners have reported: giving their spouses permission to have sex outside the marriage. Ruth's boss ends up getting involved with Ruth's wife in an interesting triangulation of desire.

Make no mistake, this is not a fun film; it handles the most serious difficulties sympathetically and objectively.

Note that on the Internet Movie Database, there is also a film of the same title released in 2004; a reviewer has provided, against that other film, the plot outline for this 2003 film, in error.

HF December 2004

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