The Danish Girl **** (2015, Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ben Whishaw) – Movie Review

Director Tom Hooper’s 2015 drama is an excellent, beautifully crafted movie with two brilliant, award-worthy performances by Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander and something important to say.  It has four Oscar nominations. It’s based on a true story, but given a free spin in Lucinda Coxon’s sympathetic screenplay by coming from a novel by David Ebershoff.

It tells a remarkable love story inspired by the lives of Danish married couple Einar Wegener and Gerda Wegener – the artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. In the early 1920s, Gerda paints her husband Einar as a woman in her painting, which gained popularity and prompted Einar to start to take on a female appearance and rename himself Lili Elbe. Perhaps surprisingly, especially given the era, Einar and Gerda’s marriage and work evolve in an organic loving way as they try to navigate Lili’s ground-breaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

Though perhaps a little discreet, sedate and picturesque, the charming film is engrossing throughout, taking the audience on a surprising journey along to an ending that took me totally by surprise, which is a rare event. Occasionally, it’s a bit too much heritage cinema, but not too much. Mostly it concentrated on its characters, story and themes in a another of those rare films that’s about something. If it’s got something on its mind, it’s not too weighed down by it. It has audiences in mind too.

Redmayne looks the part, astonishingly so, and bravely acts his socks off, or stockings off, taking no prisoners. He might have been an Oscar contender if he hadn’t won already for The Theory of Everything (2014). This is a great follow-up role, no doubt. And Vikander is inspired, perhaps actually inspired by the role and the film, after appearing in some lesser stuff this year in which it’s hard to establish your true worth. In one way, you would not think the film is about her, but in every other way it is, or Vikander makes it that it is.

It’s really good to have a lgbtq film in the mainstream like this. No not good, great. The actors may be a tiny little bit better than the film, but not by much. The film is excellent, with all eyes on the star duo, but there are one or two other intriguing complications and actors. Matthias Schoenaerts gets an interesting sympathetic star support role as art dealer Hans Axgil, Einar’s childhood friend who turns up again, and Ben Whishaw plays the gay man Henrik, who takes a shine to Lili. It’s very well, and very strongly cast.

Both Redmayne and Vikander were nominated for Golden Globes, and quite rightly so. Redmayne also has a Best Actor Oscar nomination and Vikander a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, with Paco Delgado nominated for Best Achievement in Costume Design and Eve Stewart (production design) and Michael Standish (set decoration) nominated for Best Achievement in Production Design.

Vikander won the 2016 Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Tom Hooper won an Oscar for directing The King’s Speech. The 2010 film was nominated for 12 Oscars, more than any other film of that year, and also won the Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth) and Best Original Screenplay Oscars.

Hooper also directed Redmayne in Les Misérables (2012).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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