Review of The Danish Girl (2015) by Leon B — 19 May 2016

Bolstered by stunning camerawork and a pair of heartfelt performances from Redmayne and Vikander, The Danish Girl is a film which tries a little too hard in certain places and not enough in others, resulting in an uneven but still rewarding movie.

I'm a big fan of Director Tom Hooper, in particular The King's Speech, and the techniques he utilised in that film make an appearance here, and to equally great effect. His trademark off-centre shots, keeping his characters in sharp focus while the rest of the shot is blurred, and even things as simple as having 2 people stand on opposing sides of a table rather than side by side, are used throughout to emphasises a sense of distance, loneliness and even segregation.

The first half of the movie is fantastic and I was wholly invested in Redmayne's transformation and Vikander's beautiful reactions to it. It's a charming and sensitive story about struggling with your identity and true inner self.

Unfortunately, the movie loses momentum significantly in the second half, and the quality it previously built up is sadly not maintained. Lightness of touch is lost, and what was often uplifting and poignant becomes tedious and shallow as the film starts going through the motions.

When the movie is over it's more of a stop than an end. It's more than worth seeing for its first half, all its big, and especially small, moments, and the 2 central actors lively and wholehearted performances.