I have someone very sick in the family, and felt like a film about death- rather than escape it, I bow down to it. There is nothing as eerily familiar to me as seeing unhappy families depicted on screen, but few directors make such films compelling. All the seemingly mundane details here make it worthwhile, with themes we can all understand: how one never feels adequate enough when faced with one's parents, how it feels to be the favourite or the "others", how we make promises and then poof! it's too late to go back. If you liked this film I would recommend 2 more: "Conte de Noel" by Desplechin (similar theme of a mixed-up family with a dead son) and "Amour" by Haneke (similar scene to the butterfly one, but very different in scope).

A slow and subtle portrait of family in mourning, where everyone appears to be bitter and petty. The bit where the mother chases a yellow butterfly because she is sure it is her reincarnated son is probably the most heart-breaking scene I have ever seen.