The Danish Girl

Story: When artist Einar Wegener cross dresses as a model for his painter wife Gerda, he stumbles upon his real self - a woman named Lili Elbe. As Lili latches herself to Einar, he dares to undergo the world’s first sex-change surgery.

Review: The Danish Girl is the kind of film that leaves by an unsettling feeling. It is almost like the world hasn’t evolved since 1926, considering we are still discussing Caityln Jenner’s highly publicized sex-change surgery and article 377’s relevance in the Indian scenario. How Lili evolves from a clumsy, shy woman into a go-getter is overwhelming.



The story begins with Einar and Gerda, who’ve been married for six years. Their warm friendship, her lustful power over her man - director Tom Hooper paints a pretty picture. But there are definite signs of his ‘other personality’ quite early on, as he flirts more with the hem of his wife’s dress, than her. Einar’s self-discovery is thrilling. When the first time, he dresses as a woman - balancing in heels, caressing the pleats of the dress and kissing a ‘romantic’ man, he gets a hint of his existential life. From then begins the harrowing struggle as he fights medical experts and undergoes a harrowing experience of making peace with his real identity.

The scene in which Einar strips naked and caresses every fold of his body, hiding this genitals between his legs is heartbreaking. Actor Eddie Redmayne breathes life into the role. The very fact that he is more Lili than Einar just proves that he has got the drift.

But, the story is hardly fair to Gerda, who despite being a mute epitome of strength, is sidelined by the person she loves, beyond what society and reason permits. You wish the film was less conventional in its approach, but it delivers so much that you can barely complain. In keeping with the film’s Casablanca line, the last word here has to be - “I’ve only really liked a handful of characters in my life, and this movie has two of them.”