The Danish Girl is an adaptation of the 2009 novel by David Ebershoff which is based on of the life of Lili Elbe; one of the first known people to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Set in the mid 1920s, it charts the story of married couple Einar and Gerda Wegener who make a living as artists. One day, when Gerda’s female model is late, she asks her husband to put on some stockings and a dress which then awakens in him an inherent desire to be a woman.
With dashes of humour and heaps of emotion, The Danish Girl not only deals with an incredible story in a sophisticated and stylish way, but also offers visually delightful scenes as it flits between the galleries and streets of Copenhagen and Paris. Eddie Redmayne is brilliant in the role of Einar/Lili and despite having faced criticism from those who don’t think a cisgender man should play a trans woman, I think he pulls it off pretty well.
The fact that Redmayne has quite a feminine face definitely helps, but what is more important is the way in which he portrays Einar’s emotions as we see how a bit of cross-dressing develops into a real identity crisis.
Alicia Vikander also gives a heart wrenching performance as the remarkable yet conflicted Gerda. She loves Einar and wants him to be happy so therefore helps to bring Lili into existence but this, of course, means sacrificing her own needs and wants. The only part of the film I would criticise is the character of Hans (Matthias Schoenaerts), Einar’s friend and Gerda’s slight love interest. To me he is just a bit one dimensional and not really essential. Although, he does have one of the funniest lines in the film when he says to Einar ‘I’ve only known a handful of people in my life and you’ve been two of them.’
Nevertheless, the film is certainly topical. It seems that in the last year alone, issues affecting the transgender community have really come to the forefront, not least helped by the high profile transition of Caitlyn Jenner. However, despite this, the real issue is why are so many unwilling to accept transgender people when the first operation of this kind took place 70 years ago? It’s strange that it has taken this long to tell this story, but hopefully now the door will be open for more dialogues to take place. A film like this, concerning such a topic will no doubt be a welcome addition to the attention that the subject deserves. This will be futhered by Redmayne’s inevitable Oscar nomination and his recent Golden Globe win.
It takes a lot for a film to move me to tears and The Danish Girl did just that, whether it makes you laugh or cry I’d definitely recommend it.
