Review of The Danish Girl (2015) by Matt D — 20 Dec 2015

As happy as I am that stories like this are being told in more mainstream media, there's something about this particular film that left me a little cold. Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander both turn in excellent performances and the film is crafted in a visual beautiful way but it all rings a little bit hollow. I'm not sure if I can point out exactly what doesn't work but a part of me wonders if the screenwriter and director both felt that the subject matter did enough of the heavy lifting to avoid pulling more out of it than what was on the surface.

What struck me as the most obvious point of contention is how easily Einar/Lili and Gerda seem to accept the transition. Now obviously it makes a huge impact on their lives in the long run but the initial steps seem to be taken rather easily, especially when you consider the time period that they lived in. It could easily be that this is exactly how it went down but it didn't ring true for me in the context of their performances and therefore left the rest of the movie feeling like a bit of empty, Oscar-bait that will likely be forgotten quickly even if it does take home some of those golden men.