A Normal Family

A Normal Family (보통의 가족) is a South Korean psychological thriller directed by Hur Jin-ho and written by Park Eun-kyo and Park Joon-seok. It is based on Herman Koch's 2009 novel The Dinner, and it is the fourth screen adaptation of that book, after the Dutch Het Diner (2013), the Italian I nostri ragazzi (2014) and the American The Dinner (2017). It premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival and opened in South Korea in October 2024.

Two brothers seem to stand for opposite values. Jae-wan (Sul Kyung-gu) is a pragmatic, materialistic lawyer who will take any case, including the defence of a rich man's son who rammed his car into a stranger and the stranger's daughter. His younger brother Jae-gyu (Jang Dong-gun) is a principled pediatrician who puts patients ahead of profit. Once a month the brothers and their wives, Jae-wan's much younger second wife Ji-su (Claudia Kim) and Jae-gyu's strong-willed wife Yeon-kyung (Kim Hee-ae), meet for dinner at very expensive restaurants. These dinners are polite on the surface and tense underneath.

Everything changes when CCTV footage shows that their teenage children, Jae-wan's daughter Hye-yoon (Hong Ye-ji) and Jae-gyu's son Si-ho, brutally beat a homeless man. The four parents now have to choose between protecting their children and doing what is right. Over a series of dinners and private conversations, their positions keep moving, and the film keeps asking the audience what it would do in their place.

The film's core idea is that morality held in comfort is not tested until it costs something personal. Hur said the novel's message touched on things he was curious about regarding current Korean society and people, so he adjusted the story to fit Korean life: the brothers' professions, cram-school pressure, patriarchal family duty, and the gap between wealth and poverty.

The title is ironic. The "normal family" is wealthy, respectable and envied, and that is exactly why it can hide its violence for so long. The film suggests that class privilege, keeping up appearances, and a parental love that has stopped asking questions can grow into something monstrous. In the end it argues that principles you only hold in theory may fall apart when your own child is involved, and that people who speak most loudly about virtue can be the ones who betray it most dramatically. As the Korea Times put it, the central question is: "What choices would you make if your child was a criminal?"

Reading 1: a bleak view of human nature. NME read the ending as fulfilling Hur's and Koch's pessimism about humanity. In this view, everyone's civility is thin, and violence is always waiting underneath.

The film belongs to a wave of Korean cinema that examines class and privilege, but it comes from an unexpected director. Hur Jin-ho is associated with gentle romances, and here he moves into domestic noir. He placed Koch's European novel in a Korean setting of cram-school pressure, family duty and status anxiety, and critics broadly felt this made the story feel new even though it had already been filmed three times.

Critics responded strongly. NME called it a "morally complex masterpiece". IndieWire called it "deliciously cruel" and praised its refusal to give easy answers. The Korea Times praised how it builds psychological tension in confined spaces. The film holds a Metascore of 79 and an IMDb rating of about 7.1, and it travelled widely on the festival circuit from TIFF onward.

Commercially it underperformed in Korea and fell short of its break-even point. Even so, it has gained a reputation abroad, after a limited US release in April 2025, as one of the strongest versions of The Dinner. Several critics compared it favourably with the 2017 American version, which was faulted for preaching without the novel's cynicism.

What was praised: Viewers and critics praised the six lead performances, especially Sul Kyung-gu and Kim Hee-ae, and the way the film puts the audience in every character's shoes without preaching. Cho Sung-woo's score was singled out as an active force in the film. Many also praised how unpredictable the story remains even though it has been adapted several times. IMDb reviewers called it a rare film that makes you think, and said its twists hit hard.

Criticism: Some found the first half slow, because the linear structure takes time to reach the assault video. The children's inner lives were felt to be underdeveloped, and IndieWire mentioned some shoddy CGI animals. Some viewers found the sudden, bleak ending too nihilistic or abrupt.

Overall verdict: The film is widely seen as a gripping, morally uncomfortable thriller and one of the strongest adaptations of The Dinner. It is admired more by critics and festival audiences than it was successful at the Korean box office.