The Danish Girl - a movie review -
The fictionalized story loosely based on real-life Danish artists, Gerda and Einar Wegener, THE DANISH GIRL feels more than a little like historical porn fantasy to me. And then I read on Wikipedia that it's been critiqued for being more forced feminization erotica than a real story. My nutshell review is: sumptuously filmed and art directed, valiantly acted by Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, it's a pretty shallow depiction of a very challenging passage in any couple's story.
Here's the real Gerda and Einar
Here's a painting of Einar as Lilli by Gerda
Here's Vikander and Redmayne in their parts. They never showed Redmayne with his freckles showing and his nose looking big. This movie becomes a series of arty, slanted-just-so camera shots once he starts dressing as Lilli. Always slanting down, which is odd since Redmayne is actually close to 6 feet tall!
The big gaffe of the movie, IMO, was naming it for Einar/Lilli but making most of the plot revolve around Gerda. Sometimes it's about the evolution and breakdown of the marriage, and some is about Einar dressing up. But it focuses so much on Gerda, plus she has the transcendant moments at the end (well, kinda; wasn't that deep of a metaphor). I think the script needed clarity? In any case, it made Lilli seem less of a leader and more pathetic, and it didn't need to.
I guess my opinion could be colored by having a bi-boyfriend who flirted with transgender stuff, his many transgender friends, and another married friend with a femme persona who called me his/her first GG ("genetic girlfriend," as in, the first person the female persona hung out with). So I expected more insights, and was totally offput by one of the main dramatic points in the story. This was the second big gaffe: That just putting on some hose and ballet slippers with a tulle skirt to model for a painting -- Gerda insisted, you see, he didn't want to -- made him unable to control himself. He began to wear camisoles. He had to buy his suits all flowy. He could only dress in women's clothes with a wig and makeup. And then, tragically, had a dead woman's vagina implanted which killed him.
When there's gender disphoria, there's usually MANY things that the person does to emulate the gender they desire. This movie barely referred to one small event in Einar's youth. The message here is that men need to watch out! Don't you put on that dress, even once, or something will take you over and make you cut off your peen!
This movie did inspire me to go look up the real Wegeners and their art (OMG, Gerda produced some pretty hardcore erotica!). Once Einar started becoming Lilli, s/he started having affairs with men. That's covered only as a chaste flirtation with Ben Whishaw in this movie. But hey, it's getting some nominations, so other viewers are less picky than me...
Here's the real Gerda and Einar
Here's a painting of Einar as Lilli by Gerda
Here's Vikander and Redmayne in their parts. They never showed Redmayne with his freckles showing and his nose looking big. This movie becomes a series of arty, slanted-just-so camera shots once he starts dressing as Lilli. Always slanting down, which is odd since Redmayne is actually close to 6 feet tall!
The big gaffe of the movie, IMO, was naming it for Einar/Lilli but making most of the plot revolve around Gerda. Sometimes it's about the evolution and breakdown of the marriage, and some is about Einar dressing up. But it focuses so much on Gerda, plus she has the transcendant moments at the end (well, kinda; wasn't that deep of a metaphor). I think the script needed clarity? In any case, it made Lilli seem less of a leader and more pathetic, and it didn't need to.
I guess my opinion could be colored by having a bi-boyfriend who flirted with transgender stuff, his many transgender friends, and another married friend with a femme persona who called me his/her first GG ("genetic girlfriend," as in, the first person the female persona hung out with). So I expected more insights, and was totally offput by one of the main dramatic points in the story. This was the second big gaffe: That just putting on some hose and ballet slippers with a tulle skirt to model for a painting -- Gerda insisted, you see, he didn't want to -- made him unable to control himself. He began to wear camisoles. He had to buy his suits all flowy. He could only dress in women's clothes with a wig and makeup. And then, tragically, had a dead woman's vagina implanted which killed him.
When there's gender disphoria, there's usually MANY things that the person does to emulate the gender they desire. This movie barely referred to one small event in Einar's youth. The message here is that men need to watch out! Don't you put on that dress, even once, or something will take you over and make you cut off your peen!
This movie did inspire me to go look up the real Wegeners and their art (OMG, Gerda produced some pretty hardcore erotica!). Once Einar started becoming Lilli, s/he started having affairs with men. That's covered only as a chaste flirtation with Ben Whishaw in this movie. But hey, it's getting some nominations, so other viewers are less picky than me...