The Danish Girl — Blue Fairy Film Blog

Focus Features and Universal Pictures International

This film tells the amazing story of the supposed first transgendered person to undergo sex reassignment surgery; who happened to be a great painter from Denmark. Lili Elbe, born Einar Wegener, was a landscape painter who was married to artist Gerda Wegener. Gerda was a woman who came to understand the process with which Lili needed to undergo to transform herself. Her story was turned into a book in 2000, and after ten years of development hell, turned into a film called “The Danish Girl.” Directed by Tom Hooper and starring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander, this is a story that could easily have been botched but is as poignant and heartbreaking as any Oscar bait film could hope to be.

The film was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Actor for Redmayne and Best Supporting Actress for Vikander, which she won. While I am happy that newcomer Vikander warranted her praise and won for a film that needed the exposure, Jennifer Jason Leigh would have been my pick for Best Supporting Actress. Though there isn’t much diversity in the cast (i.e. minority voices) it is amazing to see that not one but TWO films featuring LGBT characters were up for major awards and were justly praised by critics and audiences alike. As stated in my “Carol” review, no film that has won Best Picture has featured a LGBT narrative, and since it is 2016 that is an abysmal and ridiculous fact. With two films worthy of the award in the nominees list, we are so much closer to that inevitable goal than even ten years ago.

There is a lot wrong with the film though. Redmayne is a cisgender man playing a Trans character, which is a common enough problem in the industry today. Though it is difficult to show a fully transitioned Trans person in the role of a man becoming a woman, that doesn’t mean there aren’t Trans people who can take the role. Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs has called for Hollywood’s inclusion of minority voices, so they can get the parts that warrant award nominations. If the parts aren’t there, then how can they be nominated? Fair question, but when the parts exist and then cisgender people take them from trans actors you have a whole other level of systemic prejudice evolving that no one is paying attention to.

Other issues with the film include that the entire novel that the film is based around is fictional, meaning it is not researched. Many things about the plot, ages of those in it, and the details of Gerda and Lili’s relationship are completely false. Looking through the inaccuracies on Wikipedia, there are so many you stop reading after a while, getting the gist. Still, though there is a lot wrong with the production and evidence of the story, the film is solid for many reasons. Lili is presented as an assured but troubled woman trying to find some kind of help from the world at large. Gerda is her protector and the one who comes to understand her pain. Though untrue in many ways, this iteration of their story makes for an intense and needed film experience in an age where Trans people’s stories are rarely, if ever, told.