Normal (2007 film)

A car accident results in the death of sixteen year old Nickie Reichert, the passenger in one of the cars involved. Two years after the accident, three families are still profoundly feeling the effects of the devastating event. Nickie's mother, Catherine Reichert, can't get over the grief of losing her eldest son. She refuses to let anyone touch Nickie's things, which still lay as is in their home. Catherine's grief results in her neglecting her husband, Dale Reichert, and their younger son, Brady Reichert, who lives in Nickie's shadow. College professor Walter Braugher, the drunk driver in the other car, was found not criminally negligent of the accident. He has self doubts about his life, which manifests itself in his drinking. Since the accident, he has been having trouble relating to his wife, Abby, and looks for solace from Sherri Banks, one of his students. Also in the car that night was his autistic brother, Dennis Braugher, who has not been able to leave his apartment since due to fear. And Nickie's friend, Jordie (18) , was the driver of the stolen car in which the two were traveling. Jordie has just been released from the Youth Detention Centre, where he's been housed since for the theft. He has become a sullen young man. His father, a psychotherapist named Carl, hasn't forgiven Jordie for that night, which in turn has affected Carl's relationship with his young and beautiful wife/Jordie's stepmother, Elise( early 30s) . Jordie and Elise want to feel loved again. Elise tries to be a mother to Jordy but he rejects her not because he hates her but he wants to replace his own father. Desperate for affection, Elise initially tries to connect to Jordie, but the underlying tension quickly transforms. After a series of uncomfortable encounters including one where Elise catches Jordie masturbating and Jordie annoyed at her attempts.An intense encounter leads Jordie to seduce Elise and get intimate with her, as he finds her naked in her room while combing her hair which startles her after she sees him as she covers herself with a towel. She tells him she needs to get dressed if he doesn't mind, but he approaches towards her, kisses her shoulder and unhooks her towel with little to no resistance from her as she takes his arm to her stomach , both kiss and have sex. In a highly tense sequence, Carl unexpectedly comes home while Jordie and Elise are in his bed getting intimated ( they climax as Jordie ejuculate inside her) and kissing multiple times with them getting almost intimate again. To prevent Carl from discovering the affair, Elise quickly distracts her husband by having sex with him. Jordie is forced to hide half-naked in the bathroom, watching the encounter through the door before sneaking out. Ever since then both begin a secret sexual and illicit affair behind Carl's back whenever he's not around with Jordie usurping his father's position in the house as Elise tells him that his father is just an oldman after the accident and doesn't see her anymore. Events make some think that they need to make significant steps to deal with their emotions in a constructive manner. Later, Walter goes to therapist, which happens to be Carl, to whom ge talks about the accident and reveals that he was responsible but Carl, who figures that he's talking about the same incident stops the session. Jordy then meets Melissa, Nickie's former girlfriend and connects with her. He later talks to Catherine about the incident and she forgives him. Catherine then burns all of Nickie's stuff and regrets neglecting her other son. Walter tries to apologise to her but she doesn't forgive him as she knows he was the one responsible. Dennis finally goes out for the first time with his girlfriend. ^[1]

Rennie won the Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor at the 29th Genie Awards. The film was also a nominee for Best Picture,^[2] but lost to Passchendaele.

It won the award for Best Western Canadian Film at the 2007 Vancouver International Film Festival.^[3]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 0% of five critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.3/10.^[4]