The Danish Girl - directed Tom Hooper
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Eddie Redmayne, Amber Heard, Ben Wishaw, Adrian Schiller, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sebastian Koch, Emerald Fennell, Henry Pettigrew, Pip Torrens
Screenplay: Lucinda Coxon
Music Score by: Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography: Danny Cohen
Edited by: Melanie Oliver
Running Time: 120 minutes
Rated: M - Nudity (full frontal male and female) sexual themes
Oscar Nominations: Best Actor (Eddie Redmayne), Best Actress (Alicia Vikander), Production Design (Eve Stewart & Michael Standish), Costume Design (Paco Delgado)
There is something so blatantly Oscar-baity about this film that it beggars belief.
The Oscar winner from last year Eddie Redmayne in a true story of a man who became a woman directed by the man who gave us "The King's Speech" and "Les Miserables".
I don't suppose that it was actually designed as an awards grabber but still - I was far less interested in seeing it than any of the other films in contention.
And to be fair it doesn't help that I really, really disliked Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables".
But "The Danish Girl" stars Alicia Vikander of whom I am a huge fan.
When watching the movie it becomes clear that the Danish Girl of the title doesn't necessarily refer to Eddie Redmayne's Lili - the female 'side' of Einar to whom Vikander's Gerda is married.
Vikander is all over this movie.
From the opening close up shot of her unfathomably beautiful face to the final frames it is her character and her performance that stands tall in this film.
She has already won a SAG award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role - which is an entirely incorrect category- and stands to win an Oscar in three and a bit weeks for Actress in a Lead Role- an entirely correct category.
"The Danish Girl" tells the true story of Einar Wegener who in 1920's Denmark underwent one of the first male to female gender reassignment operations.
What is remarkable about the story above and beyond the pioneering nature of what Einar went through is the fact that he was married throughout and had the support of his wife.
As Gerda Alicia Vikander is extraordinary.
Her character is the one that the audience is asked to identify with as the realisation that the man that she loves is about to be lost to her forever as Lili comes out more and more.
Gerda is a talented painter and the first signs that Einar is concealing an alternate identity come when she asks him to don womens stockings and shoes to help her finish off a portrait of a ballerina.
Next they attend a party and as a bit of fun she dresses and makes up Einar as a woman they name Lili.
Lili draws the attention of several men at the party and one in particular is so bold as to make a sexual advance culminating in a kiss witnessed by Gerda.
Vikander is remarkable at showing Gerda's disgust at the betrayal but it is when she goes through the stages of acceptance of Einar's ultimate wish that she truly shines.
She and Redmayne make an extremely believable couple - passionate, sexual and loving.
It's a shame that the film goes off the rails around the half way mark because the work from both actors in creating this relationship is very good.
The main issue with "The Danish Girl" for me is that is spirals into a somewhat farcical almost comedy as Lili introduces herself to the public at large and to close friends.
These friends often have the awkward look of someone who has spotted someone's fly open and are internally debating whether to say anything.
A scene in which a close male friend enters a room expecting to see Einar after years of not having seen him only to discover Lili reclining on a couch waiting put some of the cringe humour of the UK "The Office" to shame!
Redmayne just doesn't look enough like a woman - or sound like one more importantly- to suggest that anyone will buy it.
Admittedly it may be that this wasn't the intention anyway and that this was Lili's way of becoming herself.
However it doesn't make many of the scenes any less cringeworthy.
The scene in which Lili poses in front of a mirror and tucks her male genitals between her thighs also had the unfortunate effect of reminding me of Buffalo Bill from "The Silence of the Lambs".
Not, I am sure, the mood that director Hooper was going for!
I will say this- for a two hour movie "The Danish Girl" zips by quite smartly and isn't boring.
Amber Heard's small role is nonetheless very welcome as it gives her something quite different to play from her normal sex kitten temptress fare and as expected she is very, very good.
I enjoyed her performance and loved Vikander's.
Redmayne is passable but to me there is absolutely nothing here to suggest that the Academy will bestow a second Oscar on him.
His performance is too rife with coy smiles, awkward glances and tearful scenes filled with whispered dialogue to amount to anything more than a passable man-acting-as-a-woman lark.
And although the production design and costume work are superb the editing robs many shots of some of the splendour of Danny Cohen's terrific cinematography by cutting away just as the composition appears close to fruition.
There are several shots of multi coloured Copenhagen buildings reflected on gently rippling water that appear about to mimic some of the landscapes that we have seen in the work of Einar only to be cut short with a cut to an interior shot.
It is a baffling choice.
Considering the complete lack of enthusiasm I had for this film as I took a seat I was adequately entertained for two hours.
Yes, mostly because of Vikander's performance but sadly also because I found myself giggling at many of the scenes that I was clearly supposed to find moving.
It isn't the enjoyment that the filmmakers are going for but it kept me more amused than I may have otherwise been.
There is a great story to tell here I am sure but this film doesn't tell it.
If one tries to imagine what it must have been like to go against social norms and undertake unproven, highly risky surgery the story of Lili surely deserves better.
As does Vikander's stellar performance.
RATING: 69/ 100
CONCLUSION: A great performance from Vikander and superb costume and production design aside there isn't much else to recommend this one. It wavers too often between giggle inducing dialogue and cringe inducing awkwardness.
Screenplay: Lucinda Coxon
Music Score by: Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography: Danny Cohen
Edited by: Melanie Oliver
Running Time: 120 minutes
Rated: M - Nudity (full frontal male and female) sexual themes
Oscar Nominations: Best Actor (Eddie Redmayne), Best Actress (Alicia Vikander), Production Design (Eve Stewart & Michael Standish), Costume Design (Paco Delgado)
There is something so blatantly Oscar-baity about this film that it beggars belief.
The Oscar winner from last year Eddie Redmayne in a true story of a man who became a woman directed by the man who gave us "The King's Speech" and "Les Miserables".
I don't suppose that it was actually designed as an awards grabber but still - I was far less interested in seeing it than any of the other films in contention.
And to be fair it doesn't help that I really, really disliked Tom Hooper's "Les Miserables".
But "The Danish Girl" stars Alicia Vikander of whom I am a huge fan.
When watching the movie it becomes clear that the Danish Girl of the title doesn't necessarily refer to Eddie Redmayne's Lili - the female 'side' of Einar to whom Vikander's Gerda is married.
Vikander is all over this movie.
From the opening close up shot of her unfathomably beautiful face to the final frames it is her character and her performance that stands tall in this film.
She has already won a SAG award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role - which is an entirely incorrect category- and stands to win an Oscar in three and a bit weeks for Actress in a Lead Role- an entirely correct category.
 |
| Alicia Vikander - extraordinary |
What is remarkable about the story above and beyond the pioneering nature of what Einar went through is the fact that he was married throughout and had the support of his wife.
As Gerda Alicia Vikander is extraordinary.
Her character is the one that the audience is asked to identify with as the realisation that the man that she loves is about to be lost to her forever as Lili comes out more and more.
Gerda is a talented painter and the first signs that Einar is concealing an alternate identity come when she asks him to don womens stockings and shoes to help her finish off a portrait of a ballerina.
Next they attend a party and as a bit of fun she dresses and makes up Einar as a woman they name Lili.
Lili draws the attention of several men at the party and one in particular is so bold as to make a sexual advance culminating in a kiss witnessed by Gerda.
Vikander is remarkable at showing Gerda's disgust at the betrayal but it is when she goes through the stages of acceptance of Einar's ultimate wish that she truly shines.
She and Redmayne make an extremely believable couple - passionate, sexual and loving.
It's a shame that the film goes off the rails around the half way mark because the work from both actors in creating this relationship is very good.
 |
| Eddie Redmayne as Lili |
These friends often have the awkward look of someone who has spotted someone's fly open and are internally debating whether to say anything.
A scene in which a close male friend enters a room expecting to see Einar after years of not having seen him only to discover Lili reclining on a couch waiting put some of the cringe humour of the UK "The Office" to shame!
Redmayne just doesn't look enough like a woman - or sound like one more importantly- to suggest that anyone will buy it.
Admittedly it may be that this wasn't the intention anyway and that this was Lili's way of becoming herself.
However it doesn't make many of the scenes any less cringeworthy.
The scene in which Lili poses in front of a mirror and tucks her male genitals between her thighs also had the unfortunate effect of reminding me of Buffalo Bill from "The Silence of the Lambs".
Not, I am sure, the mood that director Hooper was going for!
 |
| The Production and Costume Design is top notch |
Amber Heard's small role is nonetheless very welcome as it gives her something quite different to play from her normal sex kitten temptress fare and as expected she is very, very good.
I enjoyed her performance and loved Vikander's.
Redmayne is passable but to me there is absolutely nothing here to suggest that the Academy will bestow a second Oscar on him.
His performance is too rife with coy smiles, awkward glances and tearful scenes filled with whispered dialogue to amount to anything more than a passable man-acting-as-a-woman lark.
And although the production design and costume work are superb the editing robs many shots of some of the splendour of Danny Cohen's terrific cinematography by cutting away just as the composition appears close to fruition.
There are several shots of multi coloured Copenhagen buildings reflected on gently rippling water that appear about to mimic some of the landscapes that we have seen in the work of Einar only to be cut short with a cut to an interior shot.
It is a baffling choice.
Considering the complete lack of enthusiasm I had for this film as I took a seat I was adequately entertained for two hours.
Yes, mostly because of Vikander's performance but sadly also because I found myself giggling at many of the scenes that I was clearly supposed to find moving.
It isn't the enjoyment that the filmmakers are going for but it kept me more amused than I may have otherwise been.
There is a great story to tell here I am sure but this film doesn't tell it.
If one tries to imagine what it must have been like to go against social norms and undertake unproven, highly risky surgery the story of Lili surely deserves better.
As does Vikander's stellar performance.
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