The Danish Girl

The Danish Girl is adapted from the novel written by David Ebershoff and the screen play was written by Lucinda Coxon. It is directed by Tom Hooper and stars Alicia Vikander, Eddie Redmayne, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Amber Heard. It is loosely based on the lives of Einar and Gerda Wegener.

Summary: The Danish girl follows the evolving lives and relationship of Gerda (Alicia Vikander) and Einar (Eddie Redmayne) Wegener. They are a married couple who are both artists, Einar is more well known than his wife Gerda. When Gerda and Einar are supposed to go to an event Einar states that he doesn't want to because people gush over him being an artist. Gerda has an idea to disguise Einar as a woman, Lili. As the movie carries on Einar expresses that he wants to be a woman, that he has always felt more himself as Lili than he did as Einar. This confession is destructive to their relationship as husband and wife their relationships as a woman and a person who identifies as one evolves. Gerda begins to paint Lili and gets incredible feedback and becomes very well known for these portraits. Towards the end of the movie Lili has an operation done that is the first step of the process to becoming a full fledged woman. However, this operation takes its toll on her health wise and Gerda begins to worry that she is moving too fast. The next operation rolls around and Gerda is there with Lili when she wakes up. The operation almost killed Lili before it was even done. Gerda and Lili are sitting outside talking to each other when Lili passes away.

Review: This movie was good but I feel that it moved forward too quickly. It seems that Lili dressed up once and then was determined to become a woman right away. I think that if they had showed flashbacks of his childhood and teenage years where it was seen that he had feminine tendencies then it would have made more sense. I do think that Alicia Vikander and Eddie Redmayne were amazing and deserved the nominations. It was a very heartfelt movie that showed the love between two people even if they weren't meant to be together as husband and wife. This is a "watch once" kind of movie for me but I do recommend that people see it because it provokes compassion and sympathy for both parties involved.