Roy (Tom Wilkinson) seems like the textbook example of a "normal guy." He and his wife Irma (Jessica Lange) have just celebrated their 25th anniversary; they have a daughter and a son. They are dedicated and active members of their church, and Roy has a steady job working with heavy farm equipment. But for all these years, Roy has been struggling with something that doesn't fit in with the portrait of him as a conservative, normal Illinois resident: he feels that he's a woman trapped in a man's body, and after all these years, he's finally decided to act on that feeling.

If this starts to sound like a stereotypical made-for-TV "issue of the week" movie, don't jump to any hasty conclusions. For one thing, the quality of films made directly for television has gotten dramatically better over the years: apart from being a little bit on the short side for a typical drama (108 minutes), Normal is otherwise a film that could have easily been released as a feature film. Director and writer Jane Anderson gives the film a polished feel, choosing incidents to portray that effectively capture the progression of the story, and weaving them together into a smooth narrative. I particularly liked the way that the passage of time is evoked through periodic shots of the farmland in its varying seasons and stages of cultivation.

Normal still has to grapple with being an "issue" film to a certain extent, but it manages to bypass the usual pitfalls of the genre, instead focusing on the characters as they go through an emotional wringer. The performances are quite solid, both Jessica Lange's as she portrays a woman whose life has literally been turned upside down, and Tom Wilkinson's as Roy. In fact, Wilkinson is an excellent choice to play Roy, precisely because he doesn't look like the "typical" person who would want a sex change (whatever that means). By having the character be an older man with a family, the film breaks some reasonably new narrative ground; if Roy had been an angst-ridden teenager, for instance, the story wouldn't have worked nearly as well. We expect teenagers and to a certain extent young adults to experiment with ideas about their identity and their place in society; when a well-established family man faces gender issues head-on, it's more of a challenge to the audience's preconceptions as well.

Normal doesn't really explore Roy's process of coming to terms with himself as a woman; from the beginning, it's presented as a given that he understands this aspect of himself and knows what he needs to do about it. The question is what will be the consequences of that decision. In a way, this does remove some of the potentially interesting material from Normal; as it is, the most engaging part of the film is the first half, in which he first breaks the news and starts the slow process of "coming out" to his friends and co-workers. At the midpoint of the film, the sense of discovery and corresponding narrative momentum slows down, with the film tending to expand on the material rather than advance with it. The overall story might have worked better if we'd seen more of Roy's experiences leading up to his decision, with a corresponding reduction in the later part of the film.

The subtext of Normal is that everyone grapples with issues of gender identity in one way or another: Roy's dramatic transformation is merely the most visible and most unsettling. I particularly liked the ongoing material with Roy's daughter Patty Ann, who is struggling in her own way to evade her mother's prescriptive ideas of what it's like to be a woman. I could certainly relate to Patty Ann's frustration, which in turn made Roy's own situation a little more accessible.

The DVD

Video

Normal is presented in an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfer; this appears to be the film's original aspect ratio. The picture quality is quite good, with colors looking clean and natural, and contrast always being acceptable as well. The print is free of flaws, but some grain does show up in the image, and along with moderate to occasionally heavy edge enhancement results in a picture that's not as sharp and detailed as it could be.

Audio

Viewers have the choice of a Dolby 5.1 and a Dolby 2.0 soundtrack, though the 5.1 doesn't really distinguish itself from an ordinary stereo track. Dialogue is almost always completely clear and natural-sounding, but it's sometimes overpowered by the music of the soundtrack, which play at a bit higher volume than they should, relative to the dialogue.

A Spanish Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is also provided, along with English, French, and Spanish subtitles.

Extras

For those who enjoyed the film, the audio commentary from writer/director Jane Anderson will be a worthwhile special feature. Cast and director biographies are also included.

Final thoughts

Normal is a reasonably entertaining film but it's not exceptional. While it doesn't really have the substance to merit repeat viewing, its solid performances by Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson make it worth checking out for an evening's viewing, so it's an excellent choice as a rental.