The Danish Girl

The Danish Girl - Film - 2015 

The Danish Girl is based on the novel (which is based on a true story) by David Ebershoff, about the unusual romance between Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili (Eddie Redmayne) began her life living as Einar Wegener a famous artist, married to Gerda. However, Lili was always lurking behind Einar, Gerda helps to bring Lili to the surface, but this leads to Lili never wanting to go away. The film follows the miracle of Lili showing herself to the world. 

The majority of the film is based in Denmark, however, they travel to Paris for Gerda's art. Here, they meet with a doctor that changes Einar's life.

Eddie Redmayne, although good in other films, was spectacular to watch. You could tell the moments when Einar was Lili, you could see the anguish behind his eyes. He was very well supported by Alicia Vikander (Gerda) whom played the loyal and supportive wife. The great thing about this film was that you could watch and feel like you watching their real-lives. Everything was realistic about the film. When Einar was Lily, it still looked like Einar to an extent, they didn't plaster on the make-up to hide who was underneath. 

A bad thing I will say about this film is, it is a one trick pony. Once you know the story, even though it is a romance, it would be difficult to watch over and over again. I personally would not watch this film again willingly despite it being good. 

The strength that emanated off of both the lead characters was something to marvel at. They both deserve an award for the performance that they gave. It is also amazing to think that these two people existed, Lili Elbe remains a strong icon within the transgender community and rightly so. 

This was a realistic romance, that highlighted a major issue in 1926 for those who believed themselves to have been born in the wrong body. An issue that is still around today for many people, albeit the methods with dealing with this are a lot less brutal than they used to be, it is still something that many cannot or will not accept. 

I enjoyed the film, it was definitely worth watching however, it is not a film that I would watch again. 

7/10

What really sold this film was the level of performances both leads gave.