The Danish Girl (2015)

Director: Tom Hooper

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard

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.

The first thing you’ll notice with ‘The Danish Girl’, is the exquisite photography and cinematography. This film looks amazing!

The next element that grabbed me, was the fantastic performances by the film’s two lead actors, Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander – especially Redmayne, who was sensational! He conveyed so much emotion through the most subtle of facial expressions. Incredible! Having a rather feminist look with gentle eyes and facial features, he is perfectly cast.

Redmayne stars as happily married man Einar, an artist. Married to portrait artist Gerda (Vikander) his alter ego, Lili, surfaces when Gerda asks him to model for her – as a woman, for a portrait. Einar soons finds woman’s clothing irresistible, even becoming aroused by wearing it. When Gerda dresses him up as a woman to accompany him “as someone else” to an event he didn’t want to go to, Einar soon finds it difficult to break free from Lili, becoming her in the process.

Primarily a drama, there are some very funny moments too. At times I wanted the humor to linger a bit longer, but funny moments were often suddenly diminished by a depressing tone. I felt they should have allowed these humorist moments time to breathe. Nevertheless, I was mesmerized by this film. The costumes, make-up and production design are stunning. I loved it! Redmayne made it all the more worth the while.

Goof: Note the film starts in 1926. However, later in the film after a series of events, Gerda opens Einar’s doctor’s letter, and it is dated 12 October 1925.

‘The Danish Girl’ received 110 award nominations, winning 31 including the Oscar for Best Actress. The film earned $64 million on a $15 million budget.

Would I watch it again? Yes.