[Review] The Danish Girl (2015) – “I think Lily’s thoughts, I dream her dreams. She was always there”

cast:  Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard, Ben Whishaw,  Matthias Schoenaerts

director: Tom Hooper

writers: David Ebershoff (novel), Lucinda Coxon (screenplay)

Einar Wegener: I love you, because you are the only person who made sense of me. And made me, possible.

In the mist of a new DVD screeners leaking on torrents debacle, let’s have a chat about Oscar bait and breaking free from old habits.

“The Danish Girl” is a semi-biographical film directed by Tom Hooper, following the life of Einar Wegener, one of the first individuals to undergo a sex change procedure and an emblematic figure of the transgender community. The cast which knew a few changes until Oscar winner Redmayne has chosen for the leading role is completed by the ever so versatile Alicia Vikander and Ben Whishaw.

In the early 1920s, in Copengague,  Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) asks her husband, Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) to stand in for a female model. This act acts as a catalyst for Einar who has identified as a female for all his life, creating in the process Lili Elbe. What started as a fractured, pondering of his identity, becomes a struggle with the society and the rudimentary medical procedures of the age. Einar begins to shed his masculine identity and embraces his feminine side, Lili. The couple moves to Paris, where Gerda’s work becomes the talk of the art dealers. Einar and Gerda travel a bumpy road, in which their marital bonds are shattered yet Gerda remains by Lili’s side as a friend and companion through the difficult medical procedures.

From early on 2015, when the news broke that Eddie had been taped to play Einar, everyone said this part will bring a new Oscar nomination and very possibly a new Golden statuette for the talented Brit. Again, Di Caprio tries his luck with a critics acclaimed movie and if you’d ask me right now, the real competition is between Fassbender, Redmayne and Di Caprio. I predict that Leo will loose once more and when he will star in a not so awesome part, he will receive the award. Why? Let’s take a close look at the winners and nominated actors. Did Al Pacino receive his due when he should have been awarded? Nope. Peter O’Toole, Hopkins. Same thing. It’s a long line of actors who deserved an award and saw only dust. Such is the life with the Oscar committee. You know, the old bunch who still received screeners, who end up being leaked on torrents. Why? Because it’s too hard to work with a server, a password and other sophisticated devices. Because it’s good to get the latest movies on a DVD before they show up on shelves. The same committee who play by the same rules: the rule of the biopics. Of the ‘safe parts’, of what is trendy and what is promoted by various groups. Would you be surprised if Redmayne wins? Hey, I predict the award will be given by Catlyn Jenner herself. The facts are: Eddie delivered a strong, emotional role, Alicia Vikander truly deserves a nomination for Gerda although her role has been strongly fractured by the script and the real-life artist and her work has been left behind.

“The Danish Girl” is Lili’s movie. It’s a the tragic tale of struggling to fit in when you weren’t born as your heart, soul and mind feels like. For some this movie is hard to swallow, for some it’s a mirror of their own struggles, for all it should be viewed as a page from a hidden history book we’re afraid to open.

Edge and Back: 8/10