“The Danish Girl,” based on the life of transgender pioneer
Lili Elbe, has many things going for it: excellent acting, impeccable
production values and socially relevant subject matter. Yet this well-crafted
film often seems too restrained. Perhaps this approach may make the movie more
accessible to a wider audience, but the script too often constrains the
dramatic conflict of the story, which concerns a married Danish artist who
undergoes gender reassignment surgery in 1920s Europe. Ostensibly, “The Danish
Girl” is a historical biopic about this courageous transgender figure, but in
reality, it’s more a love-conquerors-all tale in which Lili’s wife, Gerda,
serves as the emotional core. That’s not a bad thing, but somehow Lili gets
short shrift: we see her change on the exterior, but less so on the interior.
It’s telling that most of the powerful moments in this
dramatic love story occur when Lili
(Eddie Redmayne) and Gerda (Alicia Vikander) are alone or interacting
with other characters. The two lead actors deliver strong performances, but the
script doesn’t allow the sparks to fly between them. As the story moves along,
we get hints of how their heretofore sexual relationship has been affected by
Lili’s self-revelation. It’s as if director Tom Hooper is afraid to venture too
far into tricky territory for fear of offending anyone. More important, Lili’s
courage seems to be an afterthought in the story. It took an extraordinary act
of bravery for Lili to act on her gender identity, but we only see a little of
the inner turmoil she must have felt. We actually see more of the conflict and
its effects on Gerda.
Fortunately, the presence of Redmayne offsets some of the
film’s deficiencies. Coming off his Oscar-winning turn as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, the actor
proves once again his fearlessness and his dedication to his craft. His Lili is
a technical marvel, an impressive assortment of gestures and expressions that
are skillfully designed to show the Danish painter’s transition from Einar
Wegener to Lili Elbe. Vikander has the less showy role, but her character is
more three-dimensional and gives the film its emotional heft. Gerda’s pain,
confusion and ultimate acceptance are evident. Her love for Lili is everything.
Every frame of this movie is exquisitely shot and it’s obvious that this is a
labor of love for those involved. However, Hooper’s strategy of keeping it safe
is bound to affect how engaging audiences find “The Danish Girl.”
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