Thomas Vinterberg, the multi-awarded Danish director for The party et Drunk looks for the first time at the series format, an ambitious bet in a country which has been a unique creative melting pot for this genre in recent years: The Hospital and its ghosts, The Killing, The castle or even The Bridge all originated in Denmark.
And, for his first foray into serial storytelling, Thomas Vinterberg stands out by imagining a disaster series, but which in no way resembles a disaster series…
In the not-so-distant future, rising water levels radically threaten Denmark, whose dikes are no longer holding up. The government announces a total evacuation of the country within the next six months, and a program of migration and rehousing to other European countries. Laura, a high school student who was preparing to experience her first summer love, sees her entire family reorganize to leave, and will have to make choices – her parents are divorced…
Thus told, Family Like Ours could bring to mind apocalyptic series like The Last of Usbut this is not the case: Vinterberg chooses to treat his story without spin and without any sensationalism, with a kind of everyday calm which makes things even more frightening.
He also chooses to reverse perspectives by imagining members of wealthy families suddenly becoming anonymous migrants. A strong gesture that makes this sadly realistic series even deeper.
-De Thomas Vinterberg, avec Amaryllis April August, Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt, Nikolaj Lie Kaas… À partir du 6 janvier sur Canal+.
C.C.
This review was originally published in Marie-Claire magazine number 869, dated February 2025.
