Thursday, January 7, 2016

The Danish Girl (2015)


"Find the courage to be yourself."


Directed by Tom Hooper
Produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Anne Harrison, Tom Hooper, Gail Mutrux
Screenplay by Lucinda Coxon
Based on "The Danish Girl" by David Ebershoff
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ben Whishaw, Sebastian Koch, Amber Heard
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography: Danny Cohen
Edited by Melanie Ann Oliver
Production companies: Working Title, Pretty Pictures, Revision Pictures, Senator Global Productions
Distributed by Focus Features, Universal Pictures International
Release date: 27 November 2015 (United States)
Running time: 119 minutes
Country: United Kingdom, United States
Budget: $15 million
Box office: $31 million

"The Danish Girl" is a romantic biographical drama film directed by Tom Hooper and written by Lucinda Coxon, based on the novel of the same name by David Ebershoff and loosely inspired by the lives of Danish painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. The story is about Lili and Gerda's marriage and work that evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.


Cast
  • Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe / Einar Wegener
  • Alicia Vikander as Gerda Wegener
  • Matthias Schoenaerts as Hans Axgil
  • Ben Whishaw as Henrik
  • Amber Heard as Ulla
  • Sebastian Koch as Dr. Warnekros
  • Emerald Fennell as Elsa
  • Adrian Schiller as Rasmussen
  • Henry Pettigrew as Niels


This film is so beautiful and light, despite the topic which it brings up, that I've fallen in love with "The Danish Girl" from the first seconds. Especially because of splendid Eddie Redmayne who and whose acting I love so much that I can't take my eyes off the screen watching pictures with him.

Of course, the main feature of the film is Wegener's transformation from Einar to Lili, and thanks to Eddie Redmayne the viewers may enjoy this process in full measure: all his gazes, gestures and movements tell their own tale. As for other cast members, it's important to mention Alicia Vikander as strong and understanding Gerda Wegener, and Matthias Schoenaerts as kind and intellegent Hans Axgil, who coped with their roles with honours.


Advantages
  • Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe / Einar Wegener
  • Alicia Vikander as Gerda Wegener
  • Matthias Schoenaerts as Hans Axgil
  • Sceneries

Disadvantages
  • The plot seems too fast moving at times
  • Looks like there's no difficulty to change sex

"Strangenesses"
  • Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe looks so attractive...

Clue Moments
  • 1920s 
  • The stockings
  • Einar's posing
  • Lili Elbe
  • Gerda's portraits of Lili
  • Hans Axgil
  • The sex reassignment surgery 
  • Lili's death
  • The scarf

 
Lili Elbe was born Einar Wegener in Vejle, Denmark in 1882 and moved to Copenhagen to study art at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts as a teenager. After marrying Gerda Gottlieb, Elbe realized her true gender identity and began to live her life as a woman. After undergoing four risky surgical procedures to transform her body from male to female, Elbe died from post-operative complications in Dresden, Germany, just shy of her 50th birthday. 


Soundtracks
  1. Alexandre Desplat - The Danish Girl
  2. Alexandre Desplat - Lili's Dream
  3. Alexandre Desplat - Watching Ulla
  4. Alexandre Desplat - Gerda
  5. Alexandre Desplat - Make-Up And Costume
  6. Alexandre Desplat - Watching
  7. Alexandre Desplat - The Mirror
  8. Alexandre Desplat - Einar Returns Home
  9. Alexandre Desplat - To Dresden
  10. Alexandre Desplat - Aggression
  11. Alexandre Desplat - Radiation
  12. Alexandre Desplat - Gerda In The Rain
  13. Alexandre Desplat - Fonnesbech
  14. Alexandre Desplat - Schizophrenia
  15. Alexandre Desplat - One Step At A Time
  16. Alexandre Desplat - Lost Blood
  17. Alexandre Desplat - Lili's Death
  18. Alexandre Desplat - Roses Of Picardy
  19. Alexandre Desplat - Danish Waltz 1
  20. Alexandre Desplat - Danish Waltz 2


Quotations
* * *
Hans Axgil: I've only liked a handful of people in my life, and you've been two of them.
* * *
Gerda Wegener: I need to see Einar.
Einar Wegener: Let me help, please.
Gerda Wegener: I need my husband, can you get him?
Einar Wegener: I can't.
Gerda Wegener: I need to talk to my husband, and I need to hold my husband. Can you at least try?
Einar Wegener: I'm sorry.
* * *
Einar Wegener: I think Lily's thoughts, I dream her dreams. She was always there.
* * *
Einar Wegener: I love you, because you are the only person who made sense of me. And made me, possible.
* * *
Gerda Wegener: [to Hans] No, leave it. Let it fly.
* * *
Gerda Wegener: We went for coffee, and after... I kissed him. And it was the strangest thing. It was like kissing myself.
* * *
You may see the trailer here.


Plot: 7/10
Entertainment: 7/10
Acting: 8/10
Originality: 8/10
Music and Sound: 7/10

7/10

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