Review of The Danish Girl (2015) by Matt C — 07 Mar 2018

(Note: Please pardon me if I use the incorrect pronouns. I'm trying to differentiate between Redmayne the actor, and his character before and after the gender transition, but it's very possible that I'll make some mistakes here.

) Tom Hooper has made a name for himself as a director that only makes "prestigious" films. The King's Speech fell into that category, but it was also terrific. Les Miserables was similar in its tone, but was far too long and self-serious.

I was looking forward to The Danish Girl mostly due to its subject matter--the transgender community hasn't really been in the spotlight until earlier this year. I was also kind of nervous that, given Hooper's track record, The Danish Girl would just use the true story of one of the first people to undergo gender reassignment surgery to reel in awards consideration, and you know what? He doesn't.

.. as much as he could have. Eddie Redmayne is great, Alicia Vikander even more so, and the movie is shot beautifully and boasts a strong score. Walking out of the movie, I just couldn't help but feel that the movie was a missed opportunity.

As an Oscar-bait-y period piece, The Danish Girl has a bit more to offer than other movies that wring true events to impress people. The best thing here is the acting; Redmayne successfully sells being a man transitioning into a woman.

As he comes across what would be seen as trivial experiences, it's evident in his eyes and face that an identity crisis is being unearthed. His face tells a story, and his subsequent attempts to observe and imitate the body language of women is sincere and convincing.

Vikander is even better as his wife. On top of just being so likable, her coping with her husband's transition from male to female is equally sincere. Her character could have been very melodramatic, but she plays the part thoroughly with realism.

After Ex Machina, she proves to be one of the best new actors. The Danish Girl's script has some interesting moments and that lend humanity to the story, namely one line: "God made me a woman.

The doctor is curing me of a disease: my disguise." However, the script is mostly why The Danish Girl feels like a bit of a disappointment. There's an overarching feeling that the filmmakers tried to make this movie as mainstream as possible in order to maximize its chances for awards.

Whenever the movie shows something candid and refreshing, it backs up into telling the story from Vikander's perspective. Redmayne's character of Lili is sidelined in her own story in favor of her wife's struggle to come to terms with her transition and how it affects her life.

Once Lili fully realizes her identity and once the topic of gender reassignment surgery is mentioned and acted upon, the movie is pretty much over. The movie's ending is also very sudden, taking about twenty minutes of material and cramming it into five minutes.

When the movie ended, I thought, "That's it?" It shines light on a underrepresented community, but there are times where it ends up playing like a Wikipedia article on Lili's life. Although The Danish Girl is beautifully made on a technical level and is bolstered by strong work from two great actors, it doesn't have the courage to really do justice to its own story.

Whether it's because the filmmakers were afraid of making a movie that could be seen as transgressive or because they couldn't fully tell the story of a transgender woman, it doesn't work as well as it should.

It's not bad and it's not good. It's 2015's Oscar-bait movie similar to last year's The Theory of Everything (which also starred Redmayne). I'm not underwhelmed, and I'm surely not overwhelmed.

I am whelmed. 6.3/10, okay, one thumb down, average, etc.