The Danish Girl is a serious movie about serious people directed and produced by serious artists. Like any Oscar movie that knows how important it is, The Danish hammers home its points with artisanal flair. Were it not impeccably shot by director Tom Hooper and well acted by the leads, The Danish Girl would be an eye rolling affair for anyone watching it.
In 1920s Copenhagen, Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) is a relatively successful artist married to aspiring artist herself Gerda (Alicia Vikander). Einar and Gerda seem happy, but Einar holds a deep secret; she sees herself as Lili, a woman. Naturally, 1920s culture is not ready for such a person, and Lili and Gerda navigate tricky inner and outer world conflicts to help figure out how to help Einar realize her true self.
In fairness to The Danish Girl, Transgendered individuals are not exactly featured in entertainment frequently. It’s nice to see a real honest arc about personal internal crisis when discovering you are another gender than the one you are born. Lucinda Coxon’s screenplay tries admirably to show the effects of this realization for Lili. The story focuses, obviously, more on Lili since her story appears on first glance more interesting. But Gerda’s got the more emotionally messy role. She has to decide her level of supportiveness, knowing she could lose her husband but make her happy by letting Lili transform. In addition, Lili’s old friend Hans (Matthias Schoenaerts) attracts Gerda but is also a supportive friend to Lili. I would have liked more of a study on the marriage conflict, but Tom Hooper and the writers are more interested in showing the transformation and potential ostracizing from society Lili was encountering.
The success of The Danish Girl is due to the leads “going there.” Eddie Redmayne takes off and tries on many things portraying Einar/Lili. Redmayne is great at showcasing emotional honesty with either a look or in his soft speech. We feel the weight lifting off of Lili as she transforms, making any societal outrage irrelevant. Alicia Vikander is every bit Redmayne’s match. Gerda has the juicier tougher role, and Vikander shows the confusion any trusted friend/lover would feel at this information. Matthias Schoenaerts and Amber Heard are very good as the close family friends as well.
The Danish Girl can hopefully serve as a nice entry point for people who know nothing about transgendered people and want to learn. Just don’t let the creators know, because they will talk about how important it is incessantly. Just give it some Oscars; maybe it will shut up.