“Families Like Ours” series: in the shoes of a refugee

What if, almost overnight, we were forced to leave our country, to abandon our home and our possessions, to start a new life elsewhere? Here is the prospective experiment proposed by Thomas Vinterberg in his first television series. Since the shock of his film The party in 1998, the filmmaker never hesitated to provoke unease to raise awareness: The party spoke frankly about incest, The Hunt of the rumor destroying the life of a teacher, Drunkawarded the Oscar for best foreign film in 2021, alcoholism…

This time, Thomas Vinterberg imagines that his country, Denmark, decides to preventively evacuate its entire population following the inexorable rise in water levels due to climate change. An unlikely hypothesis according to the experts consulted for the writing of the scenario but which, through the magic of the production, appears completely plausible in this hyper-realistic and well-documented series on refugee reception policies in different European countries.

A declaration of love to Denmark

In Families Like Oursthose who have the means or who are able to obtain a work contract expatriate to the country of their choice. Those who depend on state aid find themselves exiled to Romania. At the center of the story, Laura, a high school student with a bright future, is torn: should she follow her architect father and his new partner to Paris or accompany her mother, with fragile mental health, to Bucharest?

Through a wide range of solidly interpreted characters, the series questions the different human reactions to chaos: are we still capable of showing solidarity, fraternity? Doesn’t losing one’s privileges go back to basics? This moving family epic also invites us to think about what makes us attached to a country. By imagining his disappearance, Thomas Vinterberg signs a vibrant declaration of love for Denmark, for its landscapes and for its popular culture.