A Nearly Normal Family

First of all congratulations to the outstanding unknown actress Alexandra Karlsson, this is her first film. I watched the series on Binge until the sixth episode, which in 49 minutes tries to overload the viewer with too much information, and as if it was written by a writer from outer space. I don't know the Swedish legal system, but if that's how they operate there In the reality of police investigations, but especially murder trials, the result is that it is actually easier to be a criminal in Sweden. The courtroom looks like a hall in the Palace of Versailles. A criminal trial and a legal decision that ends in less than an hour after witness testimony and summaries? How can you search for the truth like this? I know it's not a docu-film, but to know that's how they do it in court is ridiculous and outlandish. In the end, I was left with philosophical questions, what are the insights that the film is trying to convey to the viewer? What is the conclusion from the movie? Does it pay to lie and cheat? I won't write, but everyone will probably find the answer at the end of the movie.

In a world of near identical whodunnits and psychological crime shows, this one stands out above so many. A stunningly good performance from the young female lead (Alexandra Karlsson Tyrefors, a star on the rise) whose life is broken then somehow patched together again after a rape in her teenage years makes for a truly compelling perspective on hurt and resilience. The supporting actors (particularly her father, but also her mother and her boyfriend) are terrific too - nuanced, subtle performances that add up to much more than the plot on its own conveys.

Fantastic cinematography, editing, and, most important, script add up to one of the best miniseries in the genre in recent years.

Good story, excellent acting, quality production overall. At its heart, it's a mystery series- it seems like the accused is guilty, OR IS SHE??? But my main complaint is that the series is slow. Sloooow. The film could have benefited from better editing. There are lots of meaningless clips which could easily have been cut out to make the show move a bit quicker- just for example, in one scene, it shows the mom getting into an elevator, and the mom is filmed going down several floors and then exiting the elevator. You feel like something is going to happen while she is riding the elevator since all this focus is on her, but nope, it's just a shot of someone riding an elevator. So not interesting. In fact, I found the whole show rather dull until episode 5, then it picks up. Is it worth a watch? For sure. I just recommend having your phone handy to give you something interesting to do during those long boring elevator scenes. 6/10.

I enjoyed this. It wasn't too drawn out and it wasn't a super complex storyline. There are random side stories that are fairly unnecessary and whilst a lot of them are the effects on the family, it never really explored them in any depth and so there is a "what is the point?" feel.

The acting is superb and the dubbing on the English version is done so well that it doesn't distract from the series at all.

I also felt (like another user) that episode 6 was rushed, but ultimately, we wanted to know what had happened and wrap it up by then. I also felt that this was meant to be the pre-trial to see if it went to court, but this wasn't explained and wasn't clear. But surely this isn't how trials are done in Sweden.

Overall, an easy and enjoyable watch.

Watchable. It just did enough for me to be mildly entertained, nothing more. I was never in the position where I just had to watch the next episode.

The dubbing was really good. From a personal perspective though I'd like to see fluent (in English) Swedish actors do the dubbing. It would feel much more natural having their own accent. It's hard to tell how well the actors actually performed with some strong regional British accents dubbed over the top.

Anyway, this was nothing groundbreaking, the ending wasn't really any big reveal to make it feel like it was all worth your time. Stick it on if you've nothing else to watch. If you can find something else then go with that first.