5 ideas about a movie: The Danish Girl

Hello!

I have been reviewing movies for over 2 years now and I have never before felt afraid to review a film. Well, that was until now. The Danish Girl tells a story of one of the first gender reassignment operations in the world. Sadly, even after all these years, this topic is still highly controversial and dividing. I, personally, believe that all people have a right to be themselves. However, I do not know enough about transgender issues to talk about them (for example, which pronouns are to be used). Thus, I am scared that I will offend someone because of my ignorance, while reviewing this film. Nevertheless, I will try to do my best and I only ask you to be patient and tolerant with me, while I try to handle this difficult and delicate topic and film.

IMDb summary: A fictitious love story loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda’s marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili’s groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

SPOILERS!

1. The Danish Girl is a semi-fictional and semi-autobiographical story. It first came to life in a book form, written by David Ebershoff. Later, it was adapted into a motion picture, using playwright’s and screenwriter’s Lucinda Coxon’s script. I don’t know how much the narrative has changed when adapting it from textual to the visual medium, but I believe that Coxon did justice to the story. The two main characters were developed slowly and carefully (the end result was really good). In addition, the scarf metaphor at the end of the film was a nice touch. Overall, the movie was very sad but also somewhat hopeful – it is such a cliche thing to say but it is true. Although, Lili died, she died being herself, her true self and that’s the only thing we can all wish for – being able to find our true selves before our time runs out. I,personally, still have lots of looking to do.
2. The film was directed by Tom Hooper, whose past few films I really enjoyed – The King’s Speech and Les Miserables. While there weren’t many significant shots or anything too surprising in the film coming from Hooper, I applaud him for kinda stepping back and allowing the story to unfold organically. Sometimes, it is even harder to do that than to be really hands on. Nonetheless, I did like the shots with the manually shifting focus – those are always a win for me. I liked the soft pallet of the film as well. Lastly, slight warning – this film does contain quite a lot of nudity, so beware of this, if that somehow bothers you.
3. Eddie Redmayne was unbelievably amazing both as Einar and Lili. The quivering, tiny movements of the face and the hands portrayed the inner chaos of his character perfectly. I give highest praises to Redmayne for not only giving us this amazing performance but for being brave enough to take on this immensely difficult role in the first place. I can’t imagine a different actor playing Einar/Lili. If I did not want Leonardo DiCaprio to finally win an Oscar for The Revenant, I would a 100% give it to Redmayne for the 2nd year in a row. His physical and mental transformation in The Theory of Everything was amazing to watch, but he upped his game even more in The Danish Girl. If not for Jupiter Ascending, 2015 would have been an absolutely groundbreaking year for Redmayne’s career. I can’t wait for November to come because we will see him in a Harry Potter universe film – Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them.
4. Alicia Vikander also did a magnificent job and proved us all (for like the 3rd time this year) that she is the one to look out for. She portrayed Gerda impeccability and you could see the inner process of her mind (denying at first and them coming to acceptance) on her face in a variety of different emotions. A few of the films, starring Vikander that I have reviewed are The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Anna Karenina, and Testament of Youth. She was also wonderful in Ex Machina and in a tiny role in Burnt. In 2016, we will see Vikander in Tulip Fever, The Light Between Oceans and in a yet untitled 5th Bourne film.
5. The supporting cast of the film also had a few familiar faces who did a very nice job. Ben Whishaw (Suffragette, Spectre, In The Heart of The Sea) played another LGBTQ character in a time, when being gay was unacceptable and was a great support for Lili (not at first, but in the end). Matthias Schoenaerts (Far from the Madding Crowd) played a supporting character in Vikander’s Gerda’s plot-line. Lastly, Amber Heard (Magic Mike XXL) starred as a family friend, while Sebastian Koch (Bridge of Spies) played the doctor.

In short, The Danish Girl was an interesting film with stellar performances from the up-and-coming cast. I hope that the film helps to bring the issues of the transgender community to the forefront even more and I do believe that the positive change will happen in a near future.

Rate: 4,5/5

Trailer: The Danish Girl trailer