---
title: "Transparent"
year: 2014
kind: "series"
canonical: "https://film.one/tv/transparent"
fi1m_score: 82
critics_score: 84
critics_reviews: 7
published: "2026-09-17T02:44:35.042393+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-17T02:44:36.158674+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Transparent (2014)

Created by Joey Soloway · 30m · MPA TV-MA · Comedy, Drama

**Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 84 from 7 reviews

*In a sentence:* A father comes out as a woman and her three children make it about themselves within the hour

> Joey Soloway’s series about a Los Angeles parent who comes out as a woman late in life is funny, close and honest about how selfish love can make people. Jeffrey Tambor is careful and moving; her children are hard company, and meant to be.

## Synopsis

Los Angeles, the present. Maura Pfefferman (Jeffrey Tambor), known to her three grown children as Mort, invites them to dinner at the family house to tell them something. Sarah (Amy Landecker) is married with two children and has just run into Tammy Cashman (Melora Hardin), the girlfriend she left years ago. Josh (Jay Duplass) works in music and is sleeping with a young singer he should not be. Ali (Gaby Hoffmann) has no job and lives on her father’s money. Over spare ribs the children argue about who will get the house, and Maura says nothing. Alone, she is who she has always been. The question is which of them will find out first, and how badly they will take it.

## Review

Joey Soloway’s series is about a Los Angeles family called the Pfeffermans, and about the parent who has spent a lifetime being Mort to them and would now like to be Maura. Jeffrey Tambor plays her. The three children are grown, unhappy and expensive to run, and the first ten half-hour episodes follow what happens when Maura tries to tell them and they are too busy to hear. It is the kind of family comedy that does not much like the family, and we recommend it with one caveat: the Pfefferman children are hard company, and there are evenings when thirty minutes with them is enough.

Tambor plays Maura small. She has rehearsed this conversation for years and still cannot get it out; at the dinner that opens the series she has all three of them in one room, the ribs on the table, and the talk turns to who will inherit the house before she has said a word. Later in the first episode Sarah (Amy Landecker) lets herself into the house with an old girlfriend, Tammy Cashman (Melora Hardin), and finds her father in a dress. Tambor does not move. Landecker’s face goes through shock, recognition and something like relief, and Tambor simply waits to see which one will win. We were moved more than we expected to be, and it was the waiting that did it: a person who has been afraid for most of a life finding that the moment is smaller than the fear.

The children are the joke and the problem. Sarah has a husband, two children and a life she walks out of the minute Tammy reappears. Josh (Jay Duplass) works in music and is sleeping with a singer half his age. Ali (Gaby Hoffmann) has no job, no plan and a standing arrangement with her father’s chequebook. All three actors play selfishness as a habit rather than a decision, which is harder and truer, and Hoffmann in particular makes Ali’s floundering funny without asking us to forgive it. Judith Light, as their mother Shelly, arrives late in the first episode and takes the air out of every room she enters.

Soloway directs several episodes and sets the style: handheld camera, daylight through blinds, a lens that drifts towards whichever face is lying. The house is shot as a place everyone wants and nobody looks after. The music is mostly piano, quiet, and it stays out of the way. Later episodes fold in flashbacks to the children’s childhood, with Zander Faden as the young Josh, and the list of directors grows to take in Andrea Arnold, So Yong Kim, Sarah Gavron and Marielle Heller, which tells you what the series thought it was: a set of short films that happen to share a family. The writers, among them Faith Soloway, Bridget Bedard, Jessi Klein and Gabe Liedman, keep the dialogue overlapping and unfinished, the way families talk when nobody is listening.

It has faults. The Pfeffermans never worry about money, so every crisis is a crisis of feeling, and after a few episodes we wanted someone to have a bill they could not pay. The dialogue reaches for poetry in scenes that did not need it, and everyone has had enough therapy to describe their own patterns out loud. We laughed at Josh’s disasters and then felt slightly ashamed, because the series had made it plain he could not help himself. And casting an actor who has lived as a man in the part of a trans woman is a choice we would not make; Tambor is careful and good, and the question does not go away.

Family comedies usually want you to end up liking everyone. This one does not much care whether you do, and that is why it feels honest. Most critics have been warm and we agree with them, with a shade less patience for the children than some. The series runs to five seasons, the fifth of them a single episode. The first ten remain the ones we would send you to.

Watch two at a time. Half an hour is enough to make you angry with a Pfefferman and an hour is enough to forgive one. The 18 certificate is earned, mostly by Josh.

*Fi1m score 82, published 17 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews are uniformly warm. Most critics single out Jeffrey Tambor’s performance as Maura as the main reason to watch, finding it insightful, nuanced and credible rather than a stunt. Praise also gathers around Jill Soloway’s writing and direction: sharp dialogue, a bittersweet tone, and a Pfefferman family that feels fully lived in, with the sibling rivalries drawing nearly as much notice as the central transition. Several place it alongside the better cable dramas.

The spread is narrow and there is no real dissent. What reservations there are come in small: The AV Club notes some conventional elements and a slow pace in the early episodes, and Paste finds the writing occasionally heavy-handed or over-poetic. The Times, the least enthusiastic, enjoys the comedy but thinks the series remains moralistic about its characters’ sex lives. Nobody argues against the performances or the tone.

### Reviews we read (7)

- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Tim Goodman (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it a beautiful, funny and touching account of a family coming to grips with change, an ambitious and accomplished series on the level of top HBO shows. It singles out Jeffrey Tambor's career-defining performance as the central character navigating transition with insight and wit. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/transparent-tv-review-733983/)
- **Vulture** (90/100, inferred): Transparent is a real joy that perfectly balances its characters' personal transitions and uncertainties with poetic, authentic dialogue and a gentle, flowy tone. The critic singles out the show's focus on the Pfefferman family's intimate, ongoing emotional lives and Soloway's direction for creating a fully inhabited world. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2014/09/tv-review-transparent-is-damn-near-perfect.html)
- **Variety**, Brian Lowry (85/100, inferred): The critic hails the series as a breakthrough for Amazon's original programming, praising its beguiling bittersweet tone and strong writing and performances that handle family dynamics with insight. It singles out the ensemble cast as worth watching over the full season. [Read](https://variety.com/2014/tv/reviews/tv-review-amazons-transparent-1201307061/)
- **The AV Club**, Eric Thurm (B+): The pilot establishes a believable, sardonic Jewish LA family with strong sibling dynamics and emotional realism, anchored by Jeffrey Tambor's nuanced performance as Maura. The critic praises the show's confident character work and direction while noting some conventional elements and the slow pace of early episodes. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/transparent-pilot-the-letting-go-1798181440)
- **The Telegraph**, Gerard O'Donovan (80/100, inferred): The first episode is sharp as a whip and totally contemporary, a sharply observed indie-style dark comedy. Creator Jill Soloway realises the comic concept with verve and aplomb; the dialogue is sharp, characters well drawn and complex, and Jeffrey Tambor is the best thing in it as the unlikely yet credible transgender figure. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11118847/Transparent-Amazon-Instant-Video-review-place-your-2015-Emmy-bets-here.html)
- **The Times**, Andrew Billen (★★★★☆): This very funny Jewish family comedy-drama weaves an arthouse feel from sibling rivalry, sexual secrets and spare ribs. The big reveal of Mort’s change is wonderfully handled with pathos and dignity, and the series fascinates with its characters’ sex lives while remaining moralistic. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/tv-review-transparent-our-girl-5ktxj56970l)
- **Paste**, Shannon M. Houston (9.0/10): The critic calls the series unique and groundbreaking for its authentic characters and strong performances, especially Jeffrey Tambor's, which form the true foundation beyond the trans storyline. A minor complaint notes occasional heavy-handed or overly poetic writing moments. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/transparent/transparent-pilot)

## Details

- **Created by:** Joey Soloway
- **Creator:** Joey Soloway
- **Director:** Joey Soloway, Andrea Arnold, Silas Howard, Nisha Ganatra, Marta Cunningham, Allison Liddi-Brown, Jim Frohna, Stacie Passon, So Yong Kim, Sarah Gavron, Rhys Ernst, Gaby Hoffmann, Marielle Heller, Shira Piven
- **Writer:** Bridget Bedard, Joey Soloway, Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Faith Soloway, Noah Harpster, Ethan Kuperberg, Ali Liebegott, Yona Speidel, Stephanie Kornick, Jessi Klein, Gabe Liedman, Arabella Anderson
- **Producer:** Victor Hsu, Noah Harpster, Micah Fitzerman-Blue
- **Cast:** Jeffrey Tambor as Maura Pfefferman; Gaby Hoffmann as Ali Pfefferman; Amy Landecker as Sarah Pfefferman; Judith Light as Shelly Pfefferman; Jay Duplass as Josh Pfefferman; Melora Hardin as Tammy Cashman; Luzer Twersky as Mendel; Emma Howard as Becky
- **Runtime:** 30m
- **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA
- **Release (the US):** 26 September 2014
- **Genres:** Comedy, Drama
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yawvtaFwfZs

## Where to watch in the US

- Amazon Prime Video: streaming, uhd
- Amazon Prime Video: free, uhd

*Checked 2026-09-17.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IS, IT, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, UA, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- BAFTA Television Awards 2016: Best International Programme (won)

## If you liked this

- *Hannah and Her Sisters* (1986), Fi1m 88: Three sisters, one Thanksgiving table, and everybody’s secrets served with the turkey. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/hannah-and-her-sisters.md)
- *Six Feet Under* (2001), Fi1m 86: Another Los Angeles family business, this one funerals, run by people who cannot talk to each other. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/six-feet-under.md)
- *Please Like Me* (2013): Australian half-hours about a mother, a son and coming out, gentler and just as funny.
- *A Fantastic Woman* (2017): Daniela Vega as a trans woman grieving in Santiago while a family closes ranks against her.
- *Tangerine* (2015): One Christmas Eve on Santa Monica Boulevard, shot on phones, loud and fond and fast.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/transparent