The Danish Girl

Image credit: Teaser Trailer

There are a number of reasons to admire biopics. 1) They tell dramatic and compelling stories –for the most part- that make for an engaging movie experience. 2) They provide a challenge for actors and are a great marker for talent. And 3) They are brilliant studies in character form. When I say form, I don’t simply mean physique, costume, or makeup, but rather the blend of those things as well as the smallest movements and gestures that go into creating a character. Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl is a film that highlights all of these points, making it a biopic that everyone should see.

The film chronicles a fictitious love story loosely based on Danish painters Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) and his wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander). Theirs is a happy and open marriage kept exciting by Einar’s occasional outings to balls and social events dressed as his female alter ego –Lili Elbe. But their relationship and love for each other is put under considerable strain when Einar makes the decision to live as a woman.

The Danish Girl was big news when it hit the Oscar Bait table. Not only is it a gorgeous period drama and biopic, it’s a period drama with a transgender protagonist. It’s true the story itself is not factually ironclad, –not always good news for a biopic- but I actually felt that writing a romantic drama around these characters was totally the right idea. What we are treated to throughout the entire movie is this beautiful depiction of true, undying love and it’s not so much the performances that spark the waterworks, but the sheer strain and drama of the story’s events. More than once you stop and ask yourself “how would I react if this was my partner” and it’s that fact that this movie inspires such questioning and contemplating that makes it so wonderful.

The complex themes of sexual identity, gender identity, and relationship identity are depicted and explored in a mesmerising swirl of beautiful period costumes, breathtaking art design, and simple but rich dialogue, keeping you hooked from start to finish.

Image credit: Women's Voices For Change

Standing strongly alongside the moving screenplay and wonderful cinematography are the knockout performances of both Alicia Vikander and Eddie Redmayne. Vikander is genuine and down to earth; that honest spirit that we all know and can count on to have our backs. Her performance is breathtaking –I’m honestly struggling to find words to describe it! A film about a transgender woman doesn’t immediately bring Eddie Redmayne to mind does it? Regardless his performance was beautiful: rich, heartfelt, and genuine. I don’t think you ever notice the difference in certain gestures or postures until you see them done by the opposite sex and Redmayne employs everything at his disposal from the incline of his head to the pressure of his fingertips to bring out this gorgeous femininity.

Between its beautiful love story, genuine characters, heartbreaking dramas, and tearful climax, The Danish Girl is a movie that really delivers the feels and while the plot is padded to the point of fictional, it still makes for a gorgeous movie!

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Adrian Schiller, Amber Heard, Emerald Fennell, Henry Pettigrew, Richard Dixon, Ben Whishaw, Pip Torrens, and Matthias Schoenaerts