By Alice-Ginevra Micheli
That’s right guys, it’s once again Oscar Season, and no one is more excited than me right now! To begin my foray into this magnanimous time, I’ll be reviewing a selection of nominated films over the next six weeks, to gauge how worthy they are, the overall quality of the film, as well as their likelihood of going home with a statuette in their respective categories.
The first on the list will be a film by Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Miserables) called The Danish Girl. It follows Lili Elbe (Eddie Redmayne) as she traverses many obstacles and relationships in order to finally become the first transgender woman. Lili and her wife Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) have to traverse politics, social convention, and strains on their relationship in order to help Lili realise her true self in a prejudiced time.
The first element that is important to note in this film is that the events that take place are mostly fictitious, based on the novel of the same name by David Ebershoff, rather than portraying an accurate representation of the actual Lili’s life. This is rather obvious in the story as there are some events, which seem a little too convenient and safe for such a controversial story. This isn’t helped either by Hooper’s rather sensational direction, whereby he makes every gasp and every encounter seem like the be all and end all for the characters, with the music swelling every two scenes to emphasize the constant emotional turmoil.
This may be more of a problem to do with the story rather than the film, but it did put some stress on the overall perception of it. While I’m certain that in reality there was more struggle (especially after a quick internet research once I’d finished the film), there’s a certain shallowness to the story. Everything seems to progress flawlessly, from her initial transition into the personality of a woman, to the physical and habitual transformation of the character through surgery and lifestyle. While it appears that there are plenty of obstacles, these are dealt with rather quickly, as is the inner turmoil of Lili herself, where she starts to go from a shy and lovable character, to one who is rather snob and callous to those supporting her. You begin to doubt your affection for her due to her disregard of what other people are feeling, as well as for the doctor’s looking after her for her final transition. For a character that is initially easy to love and empathize with, not only for her struggle but also for her personality, the aloofness she starts illustrating near the end really battles with the narrative taking place.
Having said that, one of the strengths of this film is in its performances, namely the ones by Redmayne and Vikander. Redmayne has been on the radar for a while; having gone straight from his Oscar win to this film and it’s clear that the acting prowess needed to pull off such a difficult character was present. Does he pull of this incredibly difficult character as a believable one? The answer is yes, and it helps that he looks flawless in the parts of both man and woman. In addition, it’s fascinating how his mannerisms and facial expressions becoming strikingly more and more feminine as the film progresses, and you can see him leave behind his male past and fully embrace her female future.
However the surprise comes from Vikander, who delivers a performance so captivating and emotional that she makes you feel that you’re on this journey with her, experiencing her pain and joy as well as the difficulty she experiencing when faced with accepting the monumental shift in her husband. She’s easy to believe when as constantly puts her emotions aside in order to support her husband’s transition, no matter how difficult it is for her to bear. This is another aspect of Vikander’s brilliance, you can see her inner battle, whereby she wants to be supportive and understand what is happening, however she can’t quite keep herself from mourning not just her relationship, but her way of life, her conventional security and her happiness.
Now as this is an Oscar nominated film, I’ll quickly deduce it’s strength in each of the categories, as well as it’s likelihood of winning on the big night. For reference these are: Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role, Best Performance by and Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Achievement in Costume Design and Best Achievement in Production Design.
As previously stated the two main performances, both nominated, are almost flawless. Redmayne brings certain vulnerability and believability to the character, while Vikander brings a certain inner strength to one who desperately needed it. While I don’t think that Redmayne will be repeating last year’s victory with a win, I do believe that Vikander holds a strong chance in her category. Redmayne’s performance, while emotional is held back by the two dimensional dialogue given to the character. Vikander on the other hand commands every scene she’s in, to the point where she probably deserved a Best Leading Actress nomination instead of supporting; therefore her chances so far are looking strong.
The Costume design was immaculate, absolutely beautiful with every piece of clothing, whether it be scarves or gloves, adding to the development of the characters and the beauty of the film, therefore I would not be surprised if it wins here either.
Finally, the production design is relatively stunning, with wide open spaces when needed as well as advantage of the luxury that surrounds cities such as Copenhagen and Paris. There’s plenty of gold, vintage looks and wanderlust inducing portraits that give an extra edge to this film when it begins to fall a little flat in other areas. Therefore, depending on what the voters were looking for this year, I could see this being a strong contender for the win.
Overall, The Danish Girl is a beautiful film, both visually and emotionally, traversing through a relationship in its most difficult period. At times falling flat due to poor writing and unbelievable transitions, it’s held up by the two main performances, truly giving their all in every scene and every line.