THE DANISH GIRL – The Review

THE DANISH GIRL is a film about a transsexual pioneer, played by Eddie Redmayne and directed by Tom Hooper. Hooper has demonstrated his skill with lush period drama in THE KING’S SPEECH and Redmayne’s performance as Stephen Hawking in THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING impressed but THE DANISH GIRL is as much a story of the power of love, with Alicia Vikander delivering a strong performance as the wife facing a difficult change.

The story opens in the 1920s with a happily married couple, a pair of Danish artists, Einar (Redmayne) and Gerda (Vikander) Wegener, who seem like soul mates. Einar having some success with his landscape paintings, while Gerda is still struggling for recognition for her portraits. One day, Gerda’s model does not show up, and in order to complete the commissioned work by deadline, she asks her husband to dress up as a woman and take the model’s place. He resists at first, but then relents. The feel of women’s clothing awakens something in Einar. Their actress friend Ulla (Amber Heard) dubs Einar’s female alter ego “Lili.”  As Einar feels the pull of being Lili, everything changes for both artists.

The film is based on a novel that was inspired by the first transgender person to undergo sex-reassignment surgery. While a lot of attention will be focused on Redmayne, who does a fine job, the really impressive performance, the one that might grab audiences, is Vikander’s heartbreaking one as Gerda Wegener. Gerda truly loves the husband she is losing as she helps him through this transition. This may be Vikander’s year, following up her striking performance in EX MACHINA with this moving one.

THE DANISH GIRL is one of the season’s two Oscar-bait period dramas focused on persons with a sexual nature that were taboo in their era. The other, CAROL, an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel, is set in the repressive 1950s and is a love story about lesbian couple. THE DANISH GIRL is set in the free-wheeling 1920s and is based on a novel inspired by real people and events, about a married pair of artists whose lives are transformed when the husband comes out as a transgender person. It too is a love story, as the wife’s devotion to her husband transcend the changes that are causing her heartbreak. Both films are gorgeous and filled with fine period details and costumes but CAROL is garnering higher critical praise. This is due in part to strong performances but also perhaps because it is set in the repressive 1950s, a time period once called the “little Victorian Age.” “The Mad Men” ’50s seems to speak more to current tastes than the Roaring Twenties, a period of rebellion, experimentation and artistic creativity that followed the actual Victorian Age and the devastation of World War I. Or maybe it is because THE DANISH GIRL is a different kind of tragic love story.

THE DANISH GIRL is lushly beautiful, of course. Hooper is known for the visual beauty and stylishness of his films. THE DANISH GIRL is no exception – quite the contrary. Set in the European art world of the ’20s and ’30s, when gorgeous fashions and decor abounded  – and at the film’s height, in Paris no less – gives Hooper an abundance of riches with which to work. But all that visual beauty might work against the very serious, tragic drama unfolding.

The assumption one might make is that the title “The Danish Girl” refers to Redmayne’s character but a line of dialog actually links it to Gerda Wegener, whose heartbreak is mixed with a tireless devotion to her husband as he pursues his dream of transitioning into a woman, the first to attempt sex reassignment surgery. Vikander’s performance is moving and strong, providing such a powerful presence that the film seems diminished when she is not on screen. Redmayne makes a valiant effort but his freckled, masculine face and lanky frame are never fully convincing as a woman, although that works in a way.

Redmayne and Vikander are wonderful together, and the film has nice supporting roles played by Ben Whishaw, Sebastian Koch, Amber Heard and Matthias Schoenaerts. While the look is entrancing and the acting moving, the film suffers a bit from lack of focus. Primarily, the story is about the marriage but occasionally it wants to be about transgender issues, and even hints at the possibility that Einar was intersex. The film deviates from the historical facts for dramatic purposes, which might displease some. Regardless, a clearer focus might have helped lift the film, particularly in its later scenes.

Still, THE DANISH GIRL is a visually beautiful film, with fine, moving performances and a little-known historical story, which will make it a winner for its story of transcendent love.

THE DANISH GIRL opens in St. Louis on Friday, December 18th, 2015.

OVERALL RATING:  4 OUT OF 5 STARS