The Danish Girl is a beautiful film—warm and thought-provoking. It moved a bit too slowly for my preference, but I get that. It is about the characters and their difficult journey in navigating an emotional state of their marriage and life. This character study needed a pulled-back pace. It needed time to reflect on what was happening to them.
The movie follows two artists, married, as one realizes that he should be a woman. It tells the story of this near-frost gender-reassignment surgery. The movie is based on the book by the same name, and I hear the film follows closely to the book. I also hear, though, that the book only loosely tells the true story as it happened. I’m not sure if the intent was to make the story more approachable or to make the characters more sympathetic.
Eddie Redmayne’s performance was superb. His ability to convey so many emotions with a look, a smile, a mere expression of his eyes showcases the depth of his talent. I have not seen all of the performances of those likely to be nominated as Best Actor, but no doubt, he is in the top few.
I talked to another friend about the film, and she noted the framing during the film, done in a remarkably artistic manner. Whether that was intentional or not (I choose to believe it was) is unknown. But it greatly added to her appreciation of the film.