The Danish Girl

This review may contain spoilers!

What could have been an incredible story about a transgender woman devolves into a rather basic and poorly executed film. I would give The Danish Girl a 4/10.

I do have to credit this film for touching upon some important topics relating to transgender people, there was a great focus upon the violence they face as well as transitioning (to some extent).

Alicia Vikander, who played Gerda Wegener, has such an incredible presence in this film; I really love how she immediately sets herself apart as one of the most hardworking artists within the film. Amber Heard, who played Ulla, had so much energy in this film; I loved her socialite role at the beginning of the film as well as the scene between her and Redmayne. Pip Torrens, who played Dr. Hexler, was one of the greatest antagonists of the film; his seemingly helpful attitude dissolving into repulsion aimed at Redmayne and Vikander was a spectacular twist. Sebastian Koch, who played Warnekros, was one of the most realistic and grounded performances of the film; Koch presented a calming and knowledgeable intellectual who ignited a spark of hope in this dismal film.

However the best performance came from Matthias Schoenaerts, who played Hans Axgil. Schoenaerts role was exceptionally charismatic and one of the most likeable characters of the film. I liked how he became a pillar of support for Redmayne and Vikander. There was quite a gentle and tender nature to his character and I think he became one of the few characters this film truly needed.

This film didn't treat it's title character well at all, Redmayne's transgender woman is immediately treated as someone with a mental illness in the script, by the cast and even by Redmayne himself. Basically the entire plot becomes quite contrived and warped and you aren't really sure what you're supposed to take away by the end of the film. The film leaves most of the audience behind after the first half an hour and it's a slow crawl from there on out. The cinematography is poorly framed and lacks any form of quality, there's no aesthetic to this film at all. The editing is something you think couldn't be worse than the cinematography but you'd be wrong, the colouring for this film has flashes of colour that are often drained by this film's grey colouring. The score for this film helps muddy the already confused tone; what should have been an inspirational story about discovering self is turned into a horror film by this discordant score.

Eddie Redmayne, who played Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe, was the worst protagonist this film could have cast; Redmayne seems to bumble when it comes down to portraying a role and hides behind presenting a physical interpretation of the change from man to woman. Adrian Schiller, who played Rasmussen, has no screen presence at all in this film; I didn't really understand why he accepted Vikander's Lili paintings because the motivations of his character were never explored. Ben Whishaw, who played Henrik, plays one of the creepiest characters I've ever seen; Whishaw feels completely redundant and unappealing in this film.