Read Mixed User Reviews for The Danish Girl

5

NightReviewsFeb 3, 2016

Tom Hooper seems to be the period piece go-to director for by-the-numbers Oscar films. After the immense success of the little indie that could The King’s Speech gaining massive momentum at TIFF in 2010, going on to win the coveted BestTom Hooper seems to be the period piece go-to director for by-the-numbers Oscar films. After the immense success of the little indie that could The King’s Speech gaining massive momentum at TIFF in 2010, going on to win the coveted Best Picture Oscar; then the grand and highly ambitious Les Miserables, Hooper seemed to have crafted a career out of production rich designs, strong performances and historically relevant social issues in his films. With the addition of Eddie Redmayne, fresh off his Oscar winning role in last year’s The Theory of Everything, Hooper’s newest The Danish Girl was expected to come out a clear winner. Sadly, The Danish Girl is a confused, highly theatrical and poorly constructed transparent film with laughable dialogue between its two leads Redmayne and rising star Alicia Vikander.

The Danish Girl seemed to be a foolproof, sure-fire bet for success; Redmayne was coming off his Oscar win as Stephen Hawkings; the first look photo of the film of Redmayne in drag gained immense buzz online; Hooper finally got a project off the ground after many years of being shelved by studios and various directors; its female lead Alicia Vikander had four major roles in 2015 with nothing but great buzz, and finally, the cast rounded out with the grandly talented Matthias Schoenaerts. Yet, Hooper’s The Danish Girl came across as a forced, highly contrived Oscar wannabe film with pretentious camera tricks, dizzying angles and weak vehicle for any kind of lead up to have Redmayne the first actor to win two back-to-back lead actor Oscars.

Set in 1926, in what could be described as Hooper’s historically hipster-era in Copenhagen, the film follows Gerda Wegener (Vikander) and Einar Wegener (Redmayne), a very passionate, close-knit painting couple who cherish the high art culture of Copenhagen, including its posh parties, galas and presentations. Along for the ride, is their close friend and confident floozy Oola Paulson (Amber Heard), who motivates the couple to partake in the lavish cultural niche of the country, without much else.

In a desperate attempt to finish up a recent portrait for her upcoming, impending gallery showcase, Gerda asks her loving and supportive husband Einar, to place the painted dress on, along with some nylons and heals. As Einar caresses and is seduced by the fabrics of the garment, he becomes transfixed, mind, body and soul, with the crazy idea of becoming a woman. As Oola enters the couples apartment, in preparation for another trendy evening gather, jokingly names Einar’s female counterpart Lili. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the origins of Lili would just be the start of Gerda’s and Einar’s life.

Transgenderism is a huge and highly talked about social issue in many art forms today, especially within the visual medium. With shows like “Transparent”, “Orange is the New Black” and others making waves, it’s no surprise that Hollywood busted out an origin film of one of the first successful transgender stories and operations recorded. Sadly, The Danish Girl, while trying to be trendsetting and a wavelengths type film for the truly difficult realities for many, serves as a laughable and pretentious story of over-dramatic film aesthetics and acting.

Scorn with painful editing, inauspicious mood-setting scoring and less than hubris camera angles and filing styles, it seems as though Hooper forgot to focus on his characters and their difficult and revolutionary small details. For example, when Gerda tries to persuade Einar to coming to a party with her, which he declines vivacious, she convinces him to come as Lili, for fun and merely as a joke. While Einar’s transformation and changing montage is brief, unlike those cliched high school prom films that has the big transformation of its lead female protagonist as she goes from ugly duckling to beautiful swan, Lili has no big reveal; merely a quick shot of her walking the streets, rushing to the party with Gerda. Hooper takes for granted so much of the importance of Einar to Lili, and focuses on a very muddled and hard to define relationship between a man and a woman; lovers to friends; wife to cousin?

Danish pastries are famous for being laminated, multilayered and delicate. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for The Danish Girl. Burnt to a crisp with overacting and some poor make-up and costume choices, the film does offer some saving graces thanks mostly to an astonishing performance by Alicia Vikander and Matthias Schoenaerts, and a very special and one of the rare believable scenes of Redmayne through a looking glass. Vikander, who counterbalances Redmayne’s manic behaviour and inability to vocalize how he feels he is meant to be a woman, Vikander’s gentle touch to Gerda’s character brings true emotions of how any partner and loved one would deal with a very radical decision today, and more so in 1926 Europe.… Expand

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6

John935Dec 28, 2015

While I give The Danish Girl credit for taking on new subject matter, 2 hours of political correctness felt strained. (BTW, I'm gay.) Also, while that subject matter requires courage we don't really learn anything new from this film. It's notWhile I give The Danish Girl credit for taking on new subject matter, 2 hours of political correctness felt strained. (BTW, I'm gay.) Also, while that subject matter requires courage we don't really learn anything new from this film. It's not really clear why it was made, other than to score those pc points, which it deserves, but it's disappointing there's not much else going on with it. Shoenaearts, in a small role, is totally buttoned up and who wants to see that?!… Expand

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5

MattBrady99Dec 26, 2015

Nice try Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hooper. I know for a fact that the two of you wanted a second Oscar so badly, so you made this movie, but this isn't fooling anyone.

The Danish Girl is about a Danish artist, depicted her husband, Einer, asNice try Eddie Redmayne and Tom Hooper. I know for a fact that the two of you wanted a second Oscar so badly, so you made this movie, but this isn't fooling anyone.

The Danish Girl is about a Danish artist, depicted her husband, Einer, as a female in one of her paintings. As the painting gains attention, Einer begins to transform as well - becoming more and more feminine until Einer becomes Lili Elbe - and becomes the first person to receive a male-to-female sex reassignment surgery. While Gerda is supportive, she comes to realize this change will prove a challenging ordeal to their relationship - even more so when Hans Axgil, an art dealer and old friend of Einer, comes into her life.

Oscar bait movies like this really makes my skin crawl, because this movie literally ticks off ways of getting that Oscar and it's quite shocking how noticeable it is here. I really liked The King's Speech, I mean it's not for everyone but I thought it was a great movie and I couldn't wait to watch Tom Hooper's next film. Oh Hooper, what happened? I didn't care for Les Misérables and I sure didn't care for this movie. The Danish Girl sadly fails to deliver and everything feels so force. The emotions, the art and the story itself falls completely flat.

What the hell happened to Tom Hooper? after he won that Oscar he really lost his touch. There's hidden greatness in this movie and Hooper could have easily taken a different path to make this movie great, but he doesn't do that here, but he intend plays it safe and makes everything feel so force with emotions that there's no emotional attachment. There were some well directed scenes in the movie and it is well shot, but I felt like the movie was missing something and that's me actually caring about whats going on. The movie itself wants me to care about whats going on with the characters, but the only one I really cared about or felt bad about is Alicia Vikander character. I miss the old Tom Hooper.

Now I've got nothing against Eddie Redmayne as I think he's a talented guy, but he seriously needs to pick better roles in the future. He was absolutely awful in Jupiter Ascending and he sure wasn't good here. He's performance in this movie is what I call "pretentious" and "by the books Oscar bait". The emotions were there but I just didn't feel it and how the execution could have been better. A role like this is not a easy challenge and this must have been tough for Eddie, I mean in recent interviews, he has said that the role has personally changed his way of seeing things with genders and transgender people. He took a risk but it sadly didn't come together as promised. I swear, if Eddie Redmayne gets a second Oscar for this movie, I will be pissed.

Alicia Vikander was hands down the stand out of this movie. As I said before, I cared for her more than Redmayne character and that's saying a lot. Shes been not-stop impressing me this year and I can't wait to see more of her in future movies. She was brilliant in this movie as I really felt her struggle and her dealing to whats going on in her life is truly heartbreaking. She was without a doubt the best part of this movie and she did an magnificent performance.

The cinematography was good, the style of the movie was neat, the score was pretty solid and that's really it.

Overall The Danish Girl isn't a bad movie, but it's not a great one either. This movies purpose of existing is just to win awards and nothing else.… Expand

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5

GreatMartinDec 25, 2015

With 8 new movies opening this week and we wanting to see 6 of them, due to showing schedule and our afternoon plans we decided to see the 11 AM screening of "The Danish Girl".

Very little is known by the public about what a transgenderWith 8 new movies opening this week and we wanting to see 6 of them, due to showing schedule and our afternoon plans we decided to see the 11 AM screening of "The Danish Girl".

Very little is known by the public about what a transgender person lives with and goes through. Recently, because of Caitlayn Jenner and recent shows based around transgender people, the public is becoming more aware of the subject. In 1999 Hilary Swank won a Best Actress award for her role in "Boy Don't Cry" as a girl who transgendered to a man and in 2005 Felicity Huffman was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar in "TransAmerica" as a man transgendering to a woman.

Einar Wegener, played by Eddie Redmayne, was one of the first men to transition to a woman, in this case, Lili Elbe, in this based on a true story written about in "Man Into Woman" in 1933. Einar is helped, understood and cared for by his wife Gerder, played by Alicia Vikander. In more ways than one she aids Einer become Lili not really understanding what he is going through just as he really doesn't and the doctors he goes to don't.

Both were well known Danish painters with Einar famous for landscapes while Gerder would become more famous for her paintings of 'Lili'. As a young couple they were very much in love with an active sex life but the more Einar became Lili their relationship in all ways changed.

Having been married for over 20 years the relationships between Einar, Lili with Gerder and hers with both is sort of given short shift in understanding what happens in cases like this.

As Redmayne proved last year in his role as Stephen Hawking and as Marius in "Les Miserables", winning an Oscar for the former, he can completely immerse himself in a role but here he seems to be all poses and uses scarves as a co-star.

Alicia Vikander appeared in 6 films this year particularly recieving a lot of attention as artificial intelligence Ava in "Ex Machina". Her role here seems underwritten and she is sort of given short shift regarding the feelings she is suppose to be undergoing.

Amber Heard as a friend of Einer and Gerder and who gives Lili her name, Sebastion Koch as the pioneering doctor, Ben Henrik as Lili's first suitor and Matthias Schoenaerts as a boyhood friend and the first crush of Einar are all good supporting performers though the latter is put in the position of a possible lover for Gerder which doesn't ring true.

"The Danish Girl" is an interesting film but doesn't deliver. There is also the problem of some important--at least they may be important--lines are very soft spoken to the point many people in the audience ask, "What did they say?", and it isn't the fault of the theatre's sound.… Expand

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6

FilmPhonicJan 5, 2016

Academy award-winning director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) reunites with his ‘Les Misérables’ alumnus and most recent Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, to bring us a heavily dramatized version of a real early 20th century story whichAcademy award-winning director Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) reunites with his ‘Les Misérables’ alumnus and most recent Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, to bring us a heavily dramatized version of a real early 20th century story which couldn’t be more timely.

Redmayne stars as turn-of-the-century Danish painter Einar Wegener whose long transition into Lily Elbe eventually culminated in one of the earliest examples of gender reassignment surgery, the core of the story is the unique love story between Wegener and his wife and fellow artist Gerda Gottlieb, played by Alicia Vikander, who remained remarkably loyal despite inevitably losing the man she married.

‘The Danish Girl’ benefits from an interesting and incredibly timely central theme which has become a major social talking point in 2015. Director Tom Hooper manages to effectively apply what is fast becoming his formula of stylish and emotional period-drama treatment which takes advantage of solid performances, impeccable production design and an evocative Alexandre Desplat musical score.

While ‘The Danish Girl’ is certainly not the first film to deal with issues of transgenderism, it’s quite original in framing it as an issue of personality and gender identity rather than sexuality.

While transgender people will view themselves as having been born in the wrong body, society may view it as a mental disorder (gender dysphoria), the point of a film like this is to build a bridge of acceptance between the way people view an issue that’s now part of the media landscape… and battle against judgment from both sides by having unsuppressed open discussion.

‘The Danish Girl’ is essentially a human story set in a time long ago, yet not that different from today, but it’s told with a narrative naivety which takes plenty of dramatic license and employs a bit too much artistic flair.

Unsurprisingly when condensing a lifetime into two hours, the story deviates heavily from reality, but ‘The Danish Girl’ is ultimately let down by slick Hollywood sentimentality, despite being a European production, and the sanitizing of a far more painful and tragic story.

The timing of the film may have been a fortunate coincidence, but the careful sculpting of a narrative that provides just a bit of shock but not enough to alienate the masses, and which pleases awards voters, is not.

The Bottom Line…
While benefiting from typically evocative sights and sounds which illuminate a historical and yet fascinatingly timely central theme, ‘The Danish Girl’ takes too much dramatic license while sanitizing a true story for public consumption, and only scratches the surface of a complex social issue.… Expand

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5

JoeB777Dec 25, 2015

I don't mind admitting that I found the movie extremely uncomfortable (as a heterosexual male with my girlfriend). Didn't really enjoy it, nor do I feel that I have been enlightened by it (having read about this sort of thing, before).

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6

ydnar4Jan 14, 2016

The Danish Girl is certainly an interesting film, but I would not call it a perfect one. The story is very intriguing but the whole film is carried by the performances from the leading duo of Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander and both ofThe Danish Girl is certainly an interesting film, but I would not call it a perfect one. The story is very intriguing but the whole film is carried by the performances from the leading duo of Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander and both of these stars deserve the Oscar nominations that they have received for this year. I can't say that I am a true fan of Tom Hooper's films. I didn't enjoy The Theory of Everything as much as some other people did although I did think it was a good film. I find that this film has a bit of a similar formula to The Theory of Everything (which of course also had Redmayne in a starring role) and there are points where this is completely obvious. The actors do a good job at playing their roles but there still feels like there is just something missing. The film just feels a little less significant than it should. Despite its performances The Danish Girl will just have to settle for being a "good" movie not a great one.… Expand

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4

imthenoobJan 30, 2019

Fantastic performances for sure but I am very disappoitned with how many liberties they took when telling this story. Why twist the truth when the real events are so compelling and interesting?

Lily didn't just up and die after her firstFantastic performances for sure but I am very disappoitned with how many liberties they took when telling this story. Why twist the truth when the real events are so compelling and interesting?

Lily didn't just up and die after her first surgery. She actually had 3 and died on the fourth due to an infection, which caused cardiac arrest. She had already long divorced her wife and was already intent on getting married to a man and was using this fourth surgery, a uterus trasplant, in an attempt to have children with him. See that proven history was a heck of a lot better than the ending the film had, Which made everything seem like it was all rainbows and sunshine when it wasn't.… Expand