The Danish Girl: Just Another Oscar Picture

The Danish Girl follows the story of Einar (Eddie Redmayne) and Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander), a young married couple in Denmark during the 1920s. Both are painters, and members or a rather swinging (for lack of a better word) artist scene. The veil over Einar’s feelings (of a lack of comfort as a man) is gradually pulled back when he models for one of Gerda’s paintings wearing stockings and high heels. As the first act develops we watch Einar throw himself further into the persona of Lili (Einar’s female form), becoming increasingly less of the man he is as when the film begins, directly paralleling the explosion of his wife’s career as an artist.

Watching the film, this writer was quickly overcome with a sense of deja vu. I’d seen this before. Is director Tom Hooper a one trick pony? A very skilled one trick pony, but one nonetheless. The beautiful old European settings, the angle to the shots, I felt like I was watching Les Miserables all over again. The director, who’s previous credits include Les Miserable, The King’s Speech and the HBO mini-series John Adams is unparalleled when it comes to directing period pictures. Every frame of The Danish Girl is meticulously crafted, resembling the art in the character’s paintings. However, therein lies the film's problem. There were definite high hopes for the film, especially surrounding it’s subject matter, but it comes off as run of the mill Tom Hooper, mass produced, Academy Awards fodder.

It is the performances of the exceedingly talented cast which sell this film. Both leads are incredibly deserving of the awards attention they have been garnering. Swedish actress Alicia Vikander in particular is stunning in her role as Gerda. Vikander has came into Hollywood like a wrecking ball. Her 2015 was off the charts. On top of The Danish Girl, she generated a lot of attention for her portrayal of Ava in Ex Machina. She also did a lot of heavy lifting with a very thin role in Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E. She injects an interesting combination of innocence and world weariness into the character of Gerda, which seems incredibly sophisticated considering her relative youth as a performer. Alicia Vikander continues to impress with each role, and after the 2015 she's had, I can’t wait to see what she tackles next.

Eddie Redmayne is always good (Yeah, yeah, Jupiter Ascending not withstanding). The British actor is becoming a mainstay on the awards circuit himself. He won a number of awards (including the Best Actor Oscar) for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.  Even his early performances in Les Miserables and My Week with Marilyn received attention. Redmayne is incredible at injecting powerful emotion to even the most subtle moment. Incredibly boyish for his 33 years, he seems tailor made for the sensitive schoolboy roles he has been playing. However, I have to hypothesize, how will Redmayne evolve as he turns 40 and even (gasp!) 50.

I feel unqualified to speak on the intricacies of the script, and the historical details of the story. I know the script, which is based on the book by David Ebershoff, has seen much written in other reviews as to how it differs from the true story of Gerda and Einar Wegener. This is a matter I'll leave for the historians. As I was generally unfamiliar with the story of the films narrative, and a quick Google isn’t exactly research.

Interestingly, there seemed to be a disconnect in the narrative as to how the story wanted to deal with Einar's transition into Lili. There are some truly eloquent lines towards the end of the film, beautifully putting words to Einar’s feelings of being trapped in his own body; however, they seem wholly restricted to the third act. Prior to this, Einar’s true identity is treated more as an actor studying a role. We see him following women around, shadowing and imitating their movements as he slips further into his true self. Einar goes through periods where he throws himself completely into the Lilli persona, seemingly unable to pull himself out, even when requested to by a tearful Gerda. The closest analysis into the character is that he's so far in denial through most of the film that this is the only way he is able to interpret the feelings, but the narrative gives us very little true insight to demonstrate this.


A lighter gripe of yours truly... you signed Ben Whishaw. Use him! Don’t trot him out for two obligatory scenes and send him back to the BBC. It’s a crime to waste Ben Whishaw.

The pieces to make The Danish Girl a great film are all there, and it is definitely a good (if not beautiful) film. However, it seems like a film of missed chances. There are plenty of opportunities for it to stand out, and it just can’t capitalized.

Rating: 3/5 stars.