The Danish Girl (15.)
Directed by Tom Hooper.
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sebastian Koch and Ben Whishaw. Released on New Year's Day. 120 mins.
2015 was the year the wider public got a better understanding of what the T in LGBT stood for, and not just because of the Caitlin Jenner story. So what better way to mark this raise in awareness than to have a nice, tasteful British film about the subject, directed by an Oscar winner.
Being a nice, tastefully-made British film it is, of course, a period drama and Based On A True Story; that of Einer Wegener (Redmayne), a Danish painter who underwent one of the first ever gender re-alignment operations in 1931. Happily married to painter Gerder (Vikander) the pair indulge in a bit of cross dressing after which he develops a female persona, Lili, that eventually takes over.
The advantage of being nice and tasteful is that it is very discrete about the whole surgical procedure – you don't see, or feel, a thing. A blessing for me – I'm a terrible cissy when it comes to anything to do with that. It also means the film is prepared to take the time to try and outline what it is to feel an outcast within your own skin, and to show Gerder's torment at watching the man she loved retreat from her, while remaining at her side. Her agony is exacerbated by her being in some measure an accomplice in the process – she first gets him to wear stockings to sit in for a model who failed to turn up for a sitting; she encourages him to dress as a woman at a party and reinforces the Lili persona with a series of sketches and paintings that make her reputation as an artist.
The downside of being nice and tasteful and British is that the film is inordinately dull, a two hour talking shop about a costume change. Of course the Acting is the main thing here but while Vikander radiates as Gerder, Redmayne interpretation of Einer is rather limited. He does little more than offer up the same coy little smiles throughout. Almost all of the film is people talking in rooms, usually the two stars. Such a limited focus needs to generate some intensity, but the movie is too placid and languid for that. Its like a genteel retread of Cronenberg's The Fly – a couple who are stuck together in the same living quarters as the man disintegrates after an experiment goes wrong. Except he doesn't turn into an insect but a blushing spinster.
Directed by Tom Hooper.
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Sebastian Koch and Ben Whishaw. Released on New Year's Day. 120 mins.
2015 was the year the wider public got a better understanding of what the T in LGBT stood for, and not just because of the Caitlin Jenner story. So what better way to mark this raise in awareness than to have a nice, tasteful British film about the subject, directed by an Oscar winner.
Being a nice, tastefully-made British film it is, of course, a period drama and Based On A True Story; that of Einer Wegener (Redmayne), a Danish painter who underwent one of the first ever gender re-alignment operations in 1931. Happily married to painter Gerder (Vikander) the pair indulge in a bit of cross dressing after which he develops a female persona, Lili, that eventually takes over.
The advantage of being nice and tasteful is that it is very discrete about the whole surgical procedure – you don't see, or feel, a thing. A blessing for me – I'm a terrible cissy when it comes to anything to do with that. It also means the film is prepared to take the time to try and outline what it is to feel an outcast within your own skin, and to show Gerder's torment at watching the man she loved retreat from her, while remaining at her side. Her agony is exacerbated by her being in some measure an accomplice in the process – she first gets him to wear stockings to sit in for a model who failed to turn up for a sitting; she encourages him to dress as a woman at a party and reinforces the Lili persona with a series of sketches and paintings that make her reputation as an artist.
The downside of being nice and tasteful and British is that the film is inordinately dull, a two hour talking shop about a costume change. Of course the Acting is the main thing here but while Vikander radiates as Gerder, Redmayne interpretation of Einer is rather limited. He does little more than offer up the same coy little smiles throughout. Almost all of the film is people talking in rooms, usually the two stars. Such a limited focus needs to generate some intensity, but the movie is too placid and languid for that. Its like a genteel retread of Cronenberg's The Fly – a couple who are stuck together in the same living quarters as the man disintegrates after an experiment goes wrong. Except he doesn't turn into an insect but a blushing spinster.
