The Danish Girl

Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl tells the story of transgender artist Lili Elbe, and tells the story with beautiful settings and strong performances.  But something crucial is missing, and that is passion.  This is a very pretty, but rather mannered and drippy biopic that never gets close to the heart of the matter.  It is oddly restrained, and feels like it's been test marketed within an inch of its life in order to desperately appeal to the widest audience possible.

The movie has been designed not to offend, and not to spark any real conversation.  It's simply there to look pretty, and maybe score some Oscar nominations for its performances.  It doesn't even have the nerve to truly be about the transgender figure who is at the center of the story.  Rather, a lot of the focus is put on Lili's wife, Gerda, who serves as the emotional core for much of the film.  Gerda is played in the film by rising actress Alicia Vikander (from Ex Machina), and she does a great job showing her conflicted emotions as her husband, Einar Wegener, slowly assumes the identity of Lili Elbe, and becomes one of the first people ever to undergo a sex change operation.  That definitely should be a part of the story, but where the movie comes up short is in depicting Einar/Lili's courage in choosing which life to live.  The movie goes way too easy, giving Lili no real obstacles in the outside world, and no one really questioning the decision to change genders in the 1920s.

Recent Oscar-winner, Eddie Redmayne, has the difficult role of Einar and Lili.  He starts the film as a successful landscape artist, while his wife Gerda struggles with selling her portrait artwork.  One day, Gerda needs a female model, and Einar has to step in.  Later, for a laugh, Einar decides to attend a party disguised as a woman.  This is the first time he steps into his Lili identity, and we can see the outside change.  He gradually becomes more comfortable as Lili over time, and begins to associate more with this side than with his own self.  Just think about what a fascinating movie we could have if it could truly explore the mind of this man, and his ultimate decision to go through a gender change surgery, despite the dangers and unpredictability of the procedure.  Unfortunately, in this film, the change from Einar to Lili is merely surface-deep.  We see him change on the outside, but we never truly get to explore what's going on inside of him.  Instead, we get a "love conquers all" story, about how Gerda decides to support and stay by the side of her former husband during the difficult procedure.  The movie plays it safe and focuses on the relationship, rather than the person at the center of the story.

That's not to say that there are no beautiful moments in The Danish Girl.  There's a wonderful scene with no dialogue where Einar goes to a strip joint, and as he is watching the dancer on the other side of the glass, he begins to imitate her movements.  We can see the joy and longing in him as he mimics her movements, and it's one of the few moments in the film where we truly sense his inner desire.  It's also one of the few moments where Einar/Lili is truly alone, and we get to see the struggle within.  Most of the film are scenes between Gerda and her former husband, and while they are well-acted, they are mostly stoic and oddly understated.  We don't get a real sense of what their relationship was like before all of this happened, and what this gender change is truly doing to them.  There are obviously tears and fights, but even these seem oddly restrained.  It feels like the script has been confined.  It doesn't want to push too much, or probe too close into these characters and the situation.  It doesn't want to offend, doesn't want to spark real thought about the subject matter, and most of all, it simply wants to be a fairly standard bio movie about a subject matter that really should explode right there on the screen.

Much attention has been given to Redmayne's performance, and how he seems to transform himself right there on the screen in his role.  It is indeed impressive, both the transformation and the performance itself.  But, in the end, it is simply the showier of the two lead roles.  It is Vikander as Gerda who has the more three dimensional personality, and the scenes that pack more emotional weight.  I don't think I need to explain how or why this is wrong.  She does bring some life to the performance that probably wasn't there on the written page, as does Redmayne.  Most of the dialogue in this film is very mannered and kind of stuffy.  So is the movie itself, on the whole.  Director Tom Hooper (The King's Speech, Les Miserables) has a talent for making beautiful movies, but this time, he forgets to give us something to feel along with the visuals.  He simply wants to make a movie that wins awards and looks important, instead of truly exploring the difficulties the subject matter presents itself with.

The Danish Girl ends up being very gentle and mute with its emotions, which is obviously the wrong approach to go with this material.  I would actually love to see another filmmaker tackle this story, preferably in a more probing and powerful way.  As it stands, this is a very pretty movie that is well acted and has been made with the greatest of care.  It's just not that powerful or memorable.

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