The Perfect Family (2022) is a comedy film that revolves around a wealthy woman whose life is flung into chaos when her son decides to marry a rebellious woman with a quirky family. The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
Lucia (Belén Rueda) is a wealthy woman and the wife of an accomplished astronomer, Ernesto (Gonzalo de Castro). Their son, Pablo (Gonzalo Ramos), decides to take them out and give them a surprise one day. He wants them to meet the girl he’s dating so that they can make an announcement.
He drives them to a working-class neighbourhood in Madrid where his girlfriend, Sara (Carolina Yuste), stays with her parents and younger brother. Her mother, Amparo (Pepa Aniorte) is a bus driver and her father, Miguel (Jose Coronado) is a househusband.
Sara works at a gym as an instructor and has ambitions to own the place in a few years. She and Pablo announce that they plan on getting married, much to the surprise of Pablo’s parents. Lucia is not a fan of this arrangement from the beginning.
She is then convinced to accompany the couple to Miguel’s home village where the wedding is set to be held. Lucia is uncomfortable throughout the journey and just wants to get it done. She leaves her husband with ready meals so that he can survive while she’s gone.
Lucia looks for ways to derail the wedding but she has no such luck. They set a date and even rope in Lucia to help with the wedding preparations. While she is there, she develops a bond with Miguel who gave her some comfort when she felt uneasy.
He seemed to turn on the charm and it managed to have some kind of effect on Lucia. When she returned to the city, she had a spring in her step for some reason. Over the next few days, Lucia and Miguel get closer to each other as they go around preparing for the wedding.
Lucia does try to spice things up with Ernesto but he’s oblivious to her needs. She compensates by seeking attention from Miguel, attention that Miguel is very much happy to provide. At a food tasting when they find themselves alone, Lucia and Miguel share a kiss.
Lucia believes it is a mistake but Miguel is convinced that there is an attraction between them that he hasn’t felt in years. The day of the wedding arrives with Lucia avoiding Miguel at every turn.
At the reception party, Miguel manages to drag Lucia away from everyone else but when they stumble on top of one another Amparo is there to see the incident. Miguel admits that he’s in love with Lucia while Lucia only protests her innocence.
The party is ruined and Miguel is asked to leave by his daughter. Lucia and Ernesto also make their way and discuss how they reached this point but Ernesto still appears ignorant about his part in this scenario.
Lucia is frustrated with her husband’s negligent attitude towards her needs and heads out to spend the night with Miguel. She immediately regrets her decision in the morning and makes a quick exit. She looks for a place of her own and secures a small room that looks like a travesty.
Meanwhile, Ernesto, Miguel and Amparo are also dealing with the aftermath of this scandal in their ways.
If you have any doubts about the ending, here is a complete breakdown.
The Perfect Family (2022) ending explained in detail:
Starting afresh
Ernesto looks like he is completely lost without his wife there to scrutinize his every choice. Miguel realizes his mistake and attempts to make a peace offering to his wife in the form of a wood-carved rose.
Amparo is driving her bus one day when an unruly driver cuts her off. She gets ahead of him and then gets off the bus to give him a piece of her mind. She unloads on him about all the pressures she has to deal with being a woman, a wife, a mother and a bus driver.
Lucia starts working on her place and slowly turns it into something habitable. She goes back to the school that use to run in search of a job. One of her old students is now the principal there which makes her very proud. She is offered a lower position which she readily accepts.
Mending bridges
Lucia’s school is hiring a new physical education teacher and she’s in charge of interviewing the candidates. The last interviewee of the day happens to Sara who was fired from her previous job because she got pregnant.
Sara sees Lucia and leaves but Lucia chases after her and tells her that there is a job waiting for her if she wants it.
Pablo and Sara visit Ernesto who seems to have settled into life without Lucia but he still looks like a mess. Pablo tells his father that maybe he needs to get out more and start living life the way it’s supposed to.
It’s around Christmas time and Lucia gets a visit from her son. He compliments what she’s managed to do with her tiny apartment and the two of them share a precious moment after being apart for a while.
Christmas dinner
Sara eventually takes up the job and tells Lucia that her mother must not find out. She also insists that they are to keep things strictly professional at all times.
Pablo and Sara are hosting their family for Christmas eve and they are trying to hide all traces of the fact that Lucia and Sara work together. Ernesto is there cooking the meal while Sara frets over how the evening might go.
Everyone arrives and it doesn’t take long for things to delve into chaos. Amparo eventually finds out that her daughter and the woman who slept with her husband are working together and her reaction is not favourable.
Lucia finally stands up for herself and tells everyone that during her entire marriage she ut her husband and her family first and once she finally put herself first, things got a little crazy, but she has no regrets about it.
She leaves the house after her outburst but Sara goes after her, at which point her water breaks and she is rushed to the hospital where everyone eventually gets to celebrate the birth of a baby girl. They all take a picture together, looking like ‘the perfect family’.
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