Review: The Danish Girl

Set primarily in 1920s Europe, Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander play Danish artists Einar and Gerda, a married couple who face tough times as Einar’s experiences posing in women’s clothing for his wife’s paintings and an innocent bit of cross-dressing at a party, lead him to discover his true nature. Einar wishes to transition into a woman, who he will call Lili. Although shocked at this, Gerda manages to sympathise with and support Einar through this journey as best she can, even if it means losing their marriage. Ben Whishaw plays Henrik, who meets ‘Lili’ knowing full well that she is really a ‘he’. They have an affair, but it soon becomes clear that Henrik is gay whilst ‘Lili’ wants to be seen as a woman. Amber Heard drifts in and out of the film as the married couple’s ballerina friend Oola, whilst Matthias Schoenaerts plays a figure from Einar’s past.

 

I had the impression that this 2015 film from director Tom Hooper (The Oscar-winning “The King’s Speech”, the screen adaptation of “Les Miserables”) was going to be a little too arty for my liking or at the very least extremely pretentious. I was mistaken. Eddie Redmayne getting all obsessed with the textures and fabrics of women’s clothing had the potential to take this into unwanted “Glen or Glenda?” unintentional parody, but Hooper, Redmayne, and screenwriter Lucinda Coxon (the very different “Wild Target”) manage to steer the ship true. I was also expecting the relationship between Redmayne and Alicia Vikander here to descend into ‘angry, non-understanding wife’ cliché. It’s not really that kind of film, nor does Alicia Vikander play that kind of character. This was one of the more pleasant surprises of 2015 for me.

 

Yes, there are clichés here and there, but this is so heart-breaking to see a person struggle within themselves like this, set in a time where you couldn’t just readily be yourself. This film is set in a rather unkind era for certain members of society. Hell, the world is still rather unkind towards the transgender community in many places. This is as sensitive a treatment on this subject as you’re likely to get, and a lot of that goes to Eddie Redmayne’s performance. I wonder if his failure to go back-to-back in Oscar victories might’ve been due to his misstep with an awful performance in The Wachowski’s “Jupiter Ascending” (Interesting that both of the Wachowski’s are actually transgender) that he deservingly won a Razzie for the same year as this film. Personally, I’m not gonna say that Leonardo DiCaprio didn’t deserve his Oscar for “The Revenant” (it was a tour-de-force and then some), but Redmayne absolutely nails this character. He may just be the only actor who could’ve pulled this thing off. I’m not convinced he’s a great actor, but in 2 out of 3 roles in the last two years, he’s been the perfect casting choice in two very, very different roles. That means something to me. Also meaning something to me, and I promise you I’m not intending to be insulting here in the slightest, Redmayne as a woman here looks uncannily like Jessica Chastain. Watch the film and tell me I’m wrong. Watch the film for more reasons than that, though. Watch it because it’s damn good, and so is Redmayne, even if his voice isn’t anywhere near as feminine as his looks and mannerisms. That’s the one area where the performance isn’t perhaps as spot-on as it could’ve been. Otherwise, the guy is terrific.

 

Alicia Vikander is good, but she was better in “Ex Machina”, and I think she may have gotten her Oscar more for the fascinating and wonderful character she portrays, rather than her actual portrayal of said character. Vikander also, it should be noted, goes nude here. She won an Oscar whilst going nude. So much for that kind of thing ruining a career, right? You’re damn right it’s not an issue. Amber Heard, although not a great actress, is indeed a great beauty and cast as the rather gregarious friend of the central couple, she’s really well-cast. At first I pegged Ben Whishaw for playing Charles Durning in “Tootsie”, but that actually doesn’t turn out to be remotely true. He’s perfectly aware of Redmayne was born a man, and you ultimately feel very sorry for Whishaw. He’s a gay guy who falls for a guy who wants to be a woman. It would never work out for them. Although the film escapes unintentional titters throughout, I do have to say that the amount of times Whishaw says ‘Lily’ in one scene might just remind you of Harvey Korman in “Blazing Saddles”. Otherwise this is a very respectful, extremely well-made film about a fascinating and very important subject that is still very relevant today. Look out for an excellent small turn by Sebastian Koch as a sympathetic doctor.

 

As much as I loved Hillary Swank in it, I think this is a better film than “Boys Don’t Cry” on a similar subject. A sensitive, and if not entirely accurate to the real-life story (It’s based on a fictionalised novel by David Ebershoff), certainly a convincing portrait of transgender issues at a time where life was even harder for such people than today. It’s called dignity and everyone is entitled to it, but some seem more tolerant and accepting of those who are different, than others. Impeccably acted by Redmayne, stunningly photographed by Danny Cohen (“The King’s Speech”, “Les Miserables”, “Room”), this is an interesting film that is also a lot more entertaining than I was expecting. I was quite moved by it, with the epilogue text containing one detail that nearly brought me to tears.

 

Rating: B