He brought us Les Miserables and best picture winner The King’s Speech, but director Tom Hooper is on another level with The Danish Girl. The film, released at the end of 2015 and loosely based on a true story, tells the delicate tale of transgender pioneer Lili Elbe, as well as her wife, Gerda Wegener.
The film takes place in Copenhagen in 1926. The two main characters are both painters in a seemingly happy marriage. But when Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) gets the chance to dress up in women’s clothing to model for one of Gerda’s (Alicia Vikander) paintings, his identity problems come to the surface and he realizes he needs to deal with them from that moment on. Einar starts changing his appearance, and wearing female clothing and makeup until a whole new person—Lili—is born.
Eventually, Lili decides to undergo the first male-to-female sex reassignment surgery—which was a revolutionary and very risky procedure at the time. Gerda’s love and support keeps Lili going, and her journey to self-discovery is painstakingly beautiful.
The first aspect of the movie I want to praise is Redmayne’s acting. His emotionally vulnerable performance carried the
movie along, and evoked sympathy and understanding without pity or unnecessary victimization.
Casting a cisgender actor to play a transgender person may have been a questionable decision but Redmayne pulled it off. With every wrist flick, hip sway, and eyelash flutter, Redmayne absorbed and portrayed most (if not all) aspects of the distinct femininity of the 20s.
The film did a great job of showing the difficult parts of his journey, but also moments towards the end that show it was all worthwhile.
Acting and plot aside, the aesthetic values of the movie were beautiful. The cinematography, score, and costumes all aligned well with the artsy nature of the two main characters.
However, I felt the film focused more on physical aspects of Lili’s gender identity struggle, rather than the emotional and psychological.
I realize that in the era this story is set in, very little was known about transgender people and almost nothing about sex reassignment surgery. But considering this is a new film, and sure to get attention during award shows, I think the writers could have included some more scenes showing Lili’s internal struggle rather than focusing primarily on her physical appearance.
Despite this, I would still highly recommend The Danish Girl, especially for anyone curious or confused about transgender people’s journeys.
