The Danish Girl

Grade: A-

The Danish Girl is an exquisite film. At the beginning, I thought “here we go again with another boring elegant period drama,” but director Tom Hooper (Les Miserables, The King’s Speech) immediately draws us in, and gives us a powerful love letter and tribute to those who may feel alone, or like there’s an obstacle in the way that prevents him/her from being him/herself. The opening credits alone are a work of art. Set in 1926 Copenhagen, it is the true story of painter Einar Wegener, who was reportedly the first person to undergo sexual reassignment surgery, and become “Lili.” Eddie Redmayne – best known for his Stephen Hawking in last year’s The Theory of Everything, or as Marius in Hooper’s Les Mis – does his usual engrossing work as Einar/Lili, but it is Alicia Vikander who walks away with the film, and who I can’t praise enough. She plays The Most Supportive Wife In The World, and is nothing short of extraordinary. She has lots of lines (and does most of the heavy lifting here), but also says so much in the moments where she DOESN’T speak. I have not been more passionate about a performance I’ve seen in the last year. It’s a funny thing. With this film and The Revenant, we have two movies with leading performances that are admittedly solid, yet have numerous moments of “If I rant and rave enough, would you please give me an Oscar” type acting, while a supporting performance comes along and yanks the entire thing out from under them. Yes, where The Danish Girl slightly falters is in its moments of whisper-acting that makes the whole thing dip its toe in the pool of melodrama. The screenplay, sometimes, doesn’t do the characters any favors. It falls into the trap of being “too well-done.” Nobody in real life says all the most clever, witty, and perfect things all the time, but overall, Hooper has us hanging on every pause, whisper, wimper, and swallow. The final spoken words in the movie (“Let her fly”) really do say it all.
Grade: A-