Families Like Ours

A country where everyone live in big houses or mansions, drives Mercedes or Audis and every adult is either an architect, diplomat, psychiatrist or entrepenour. Seemingly there is no working class or poor in Denmark.

'Families Like Ours' tries to show what happens to those "ordinary" danes, and how they act and react, facing a shutdown because of rising sea levels.

The build-up is really slow. First example of "something is not right here" is when the architect notices that the water level in his toilet has risen (I kid you not). Then there's the usual "nobody panic" message from the primeminister on television (causing everyone to panic more or less of course). Immediately after we're off to a whole string of sequences and episodes of every man (or woman or family) for themselves. But they are not fighting for survival because the threat isn't imminent. It's more a capitalist nightmare of "who will lose most of their money" before time runs out? And who will stick together? Each chasing their own version of safety, Most behaving unbelievably selfish.

The acting is okay (Vinterberg knows how to direct his cast), but the script could use a lot more fine-tuning. Trying to pick up how teens in Denmark speak, they just inserted words like "sick" here and there in their dialouge for example. There are also servere pacing issues throughout and I really think this would have been a better show if it was made as a two-hour movie instead. Actually some episodes are actually kind of boring.

Maybe if they pick it up in US? Their adaption could be called "Families like ours in 90210"

Thomas Vinterberg's series "Families Like Ours" is an ambitious tale about a Danish family facing an apocalyptic crisis. The acting is decent, but it is difficult to sympathize with the characters as they often make incredibly foolish decisions.

From the beginning of the series, we see the family navigate through a series of catastrophic choices that only worsen their situation. Their inability to think rationally and act sensibly makes it hard for viewers to engage emotionally. Instead of learning from their mistakes, they repeat them over and over, which can be frustrating to watch.

Their decisions are often driven by extreme stupidity and short-term thinking, It is hard to feel sympathy for characters who seemingly do not learn from their mistakes and continue to put themselves and others in danger.

Although the series has its strong moments and manages to create an intense atmosphere, it is difficult to overlook the many foolish decisions the family makes. This makes it challenging to invest emotionally in their fate and leaves the viewer feeling frustrated rather than empathetic.

In Thomas Vinterberg's Families Like Ours (Familier som vores), characters face impossible decisions in what could have been an over-the-top apocalyptic sci-fi series. Instead, within the environmental framework of disaster, Vinterberg stays focused on the human cost. It's ironic to see some reviewers question how certain characters could be so stupid or myopic in their decision making, but the series shows how difficult it is for people faced with impossible choices, particularly emotional ones, to think clearly when they're losing everything else.

The series is blessed with some excellent Danish actors--but it's the two young leads (Amaryllis April August and Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt) who pull us in and keep us connected. It isn't that the other actors aren't excellent (Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Paprika Steen always reliable)--but the stories of Laura and Elias are simply more riveting--and extreme. The series also pushes at the notion that becoming a refugee can only happen to "others," illustrating what happens when even well-off Danes become unwanted migrants. The human dilemma is simply human, at all costs, even if you start out on better financial footing.

It's very hard to watch some of this series, especially some of the violence, but it's necessary to see what can happen to anyone. Determination alone doesn't ensure anything in a world like this--though it helps. Sometimes faith and acceptance bring some stability, as with Fanny (Steen), and at others it brings disaster anyway. We move toward an unclear resolution, the most we can hope for in this fictive world.

This Thomas Vinterberg's series looks about a doomsday of denmark, making audience expect "Roland Emmerich moments" with CGI catastrophe like "Copenhagen underwater"? No, Vinterberg has his own style, and his own concerns to tell a story full of passion, sympathy and self-reflection.

Is the main audience European and North American? Maybe, and people's experience would make different perception of this series. I am the son of a refugee family who escaped wars, I myself was a "skilled worker" in an immigration program me to a western country. We know the bureaucracy and chaos to enter a country, facing hostility and violence worrying about any circumstances. However, after finally settling down, we always keep in mind the generosity, hospitality and all the good wills of kind people, no matter the living condition is high class or not.

What I cherish in this series, is that this time it's the middle class white family having a touch of a refugee's life. The main family and its members in this series is high middle class, living high quality life, especially in a welfare state that the whole world envies. Yet in the beginning of the story they don't have a clue how fortunate they are. When a catastrophe comes, they try everything to keep the living standard as before, not willing to lead a simpler life or share resources with other people. They are one family and only cares about their family, not realizing there are thousands of "families like ours".

As the show progresses, at first they are all luckily welcomed by people in different countries, where they can still have good jobs and promising future, but they are so "spoiled" that eventually spoiled all the good chances. Some characters even went into the worst nightmare a refugee could get into, facing all the risks and dangers even the hostility and malice. We third world nationals had a lot of stories like this, and the series just let white middle class danish characters to go through it too.

Only when they face the worst, lose everything and yet still manage to survive, they could start realizing how fortunate they were, and how different people around the world are living their lives. Life can be simple and even poor, but what matters is the kindness, humanity and love among people. Even if your homeland no longer exists, you can still live the best of a humble life, and celebrate the beauty of life wherever you are.

This series deals with both global warming and refugee crisis that Europe is facing in 2020s, and it encourages European citizens to contemplate: will we be refugees one day? Will we be any different from the refugees we are receiving today? As the world is on a decline, and the society will lose a lot collectively, are we able to and willing to share what we have and what we lose with others? Always remember it's not only about "our family", but also about all the "Families Like Ours".

It's so annoying to see this Laura character and her foolish naivety. She must be the biggest crybaby ever.

Stubborn, silly, and definitely not a representative 17-18 year old Scandinavian girl. The idea for this series is good, but the script is not realistic. I know Danes are stubborn, but some of these characters are both stubborn and so incredibly lacking in street smarts. Too bad Winterberg did not see this. It feels like the series misses the mark on portraying believable characters, making it harder to feel invested in their journey. Such a wasted opportunity for depth.

I can just agree with the Gilles Character that says Jacob and his wife are just spoiled persons.