'The Danish Girl' - Review

Director: Tom Hooper
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Ben Whishaw, Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts
Release Date (UK): January 1

Never has a film felt more timely or potent in regards to social matters than The Danish Girl. With Caitlyn Jenner and Orange is the New Black's Laverne Cox propelling transgender issues into the mainstream, The Danish Girl continues to bring the transgender community to the forefront of conversation.

The beginning of the film depicts Einar and Gerda Wegener, a married couple who are both artists living in Copenhagen. Although a talented portrait artist, Gerda has not garnered the same success and acclaim that her husband has. After the subject of a painting that she has been working on fails to show, Gerda asks her husband to stand in. However, posing as a female figure leads to the unveiling of Einar's true identity that he had been struggling with his entire life; a woman called Lili Elbe. This incident is the catalyst for the rest of the film's events as both Lili and Gerda struggle to cope with the realisation.

The performances given from the film's two leads, Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, are extraordinary. Redmayne so viscerally conveys the pain of being born into the wrong body; in the moments where Lili is forced into returning to the identity of Einar, her discomfort and desire to transform back into her true self is almost tangible. Although his performance is arguably perhaps too external, Redmayne's work in The Danish Girl and 2014's The Theory of Everything establishes him as one of Britain's finest talents.

Whilst Redmayne is excellent, Alicia Vikander gives the finest performance in the picture and continues her winning streak; whether she's playing a double agent in The Man from U.N.C.L.E, a manipulative A.I in Ex Machina to her role here as a woman conflicted between supporting Lili throughout her transformation and being unwilling to let Einar go. It seems Vikander can do no wrong.

The audience are certainly positioned to care deeply for and sympathise with both Lili and Gerda as the film proposes an interesting and mirroring journey for the two characters. As Gerda and her art career begin to succeed, Lili descends into turmoil as she can't reconcile her real identity with the body she was born into. Alternatively, as Lili embraces her true self, Gerda increasingly struggles with her husband's transitioning.

Whilst the themes and issues raised withing The Danish Girl are arresting, the exceptional film-making and cinematography elevates the picture where the script fails it. Hooper and cinematographer Danny Cohen make the entire film feel like a painting as they echo Einar and Gerda's profession and create a visually immersive experience for the audience, demonstrating the level of thought and intelligence put into the picture. However, the film occasionally feels slightly too calculated and polished, resulting in moments that are robbed of their emotional weight.

Although not a perfect film, The Danish Girl will hopefully continue to provoke conversation regarding issues faced by the transgender community and further encourage Hollywood to tell bold and inspiring tells.