“Hold me tight while your heart still beats and warms.
Soon we will be split apart like berries on a twig.
Soon we will vanish like bubbles in a creek.”

Countries disappear, love remains. Denmark, in a not-too-distant future. The rising water levels can no longer be ignored and the country needs to be evacuated. As people disperse in all directions, they must bid farewell to what they love, what they know, and who they are. Those who can afford it travel to affluent countries, while the less well-off depend on government-funded relocation to more challenging destinations. Against this backdrop we meet Laura (Amaryllis August), a high school student in love for the first time and about to graduate. When news of the evacuation breaks, the course of Laura’s and her family’s lives are changed forever.

With Families like ours (Familier som vores), Thomas Vinterberg paints a realistic and frightening portrait of the near future. For the first time, a series presents a realistic near-future of what climate change could produce. 

The real effects of climate change

At the heart of the series is a reality we try not to see too much in the name of capitalism and wealth: climate change. Families like ours does what today’s world leaders continue to deny or avoid. It shows exactly what we will experience if the fall continues. Vinterberg shows us this Europe, not so different at first glance, but fundamentally changed.

Is it a pity that the series doesn’t mention the Pacific islands, which have clearly already disappeared by the time the series takes place? We can certainly forgive it, because in any case, Westerners don’t give a damn about these islands and peoples, who are already suffering from rising sea levels. So, by putting the Emphasis on Europe, by showing Denmark which is now to be emptied of its population, it hits the imagination a lot harder. 

No, we’re not in a dystopian universe, in a future far from what we know. On the contrary, we’re in the very near future, with technologies and realities we’re all familiar with. And in what year? It’s never said. But it’s not 2100. Probably much closer to 2035… 

So the Danish director presents us with his realistic portrait, in which the Netherlands has already been evacuated and the population scattered across Europe. Now it’s Denmark’s turn to go under.

Dark drama with a little light

The director balances his viewers between luminous and dark moments. Beautiful, hopeful scenes remain in the series, particularly in relation to Laura and Elias, the two (almost adult) teenagers who fall in love. Their beautiful relationship will be put to the test by the evacuation of the country, as each family struggles to land in a “good” country. 

Vinterberg shows human beings as they really are, far from the great American heroes, but just as far from misery. The characters are realistic, selfish, even sometimes towards their loved ones, in the name of the most beautiful option, sometimes thanks to wealth, sometimes thanks to certain contacts.

Without including particularly tearful moments, the director creates a touching picture. But it’s the realism of the narrative that most captures the imagination. At a time when many European countries are fighting to expel immigrants, it’s even more disturbing to wonder about a not-too-distant future in which countries will be wiped off the map, and their inhabitants will all have to find a new “home”. 

Although there’s not much violence in Families like ours, Vinterberg doesn’t hide it. Some scenes, especially in the final episodes, are very brutal. But despite the series’ very dark and tragic side, the director keeps some light on all the way to the end. Because, after all, we’ll get there eventually. 

A little more…

If this series can be seen by a wide audience, perhaps it can have an impact on behavior. In any case, its realism and its message are striking and cannot leave anyone unscathed. 

One day, we’re going to have to stop hiding our heads in a closet and really take matters into our own hands. Otherwise, Families like ours (Familier som vores) could well become a premonition. And believe me, we don’t want to get there. 

One last point about the series… Despite its subject and its take on a position, it doesn’t moralize. There’s no sense of judgment or pressure. All in all, it’s by far the best series I’ve seen this year. 

Families like ours screens at TIFF on September 5 and 14, 2024.

Trailer