‘The Danish Girl’ Trailer: Eddie Redmayne Is A Transgender Pioneer
At a time when our culture and society is becoming far more accepting and understanding of the LGBT community, here comes the story of one of the first trans women to undergo sex reassignment surgery inThe Danish Girl.
Eddie Redmaynetakes the titular role as Lili Elbe, formerlyEinar Wegener,a pioneer of the transgender community who had the surgery in 1930, a process that took over two years. Now a newThe Danish Girltrailer shows Redmayne’s incredible transformation into the real-life woman, showing that another Oscar could be in his future.
Redmayne is coming off winning an Oscar last year for his performance inThe Theory of Everything, and the British actor has gone all out for this role as well.Varietysays Redmayne dug into Elbe’s bookMan Into Woman, another transgender memoir calledConundrumby Jan Morris, and also met with six transgender women across several generations in order to absorb their experiences and feelings for the role. And it definitely shows.
The Danish Girlplayed at TIFF and Venice this year, and the praise for the lead performance is nearly unanimous. One review fromVarietysays:
However, it sounds like the film might play it a little too safe in depicting Elbe’s story.IndieWiresays:
Beat by beat, however, “The Danish Girl” seems too mannered to convey Einar’s conflicting desires. When he first puts on women’s clothing to model for his wife, the situation is initially played for laughs and gets serious as Redmayne’s face stiffens and he gazes hypnotically at his stockings. Alexandre Desplat’s wondrous score — per usual — and cinematographer Danny Cohen’s painterly images complement the evocative performances. But as “The Danish Girl” unfolds across many pretty surfaces, it rarely burrows beneath them.
At the very least, this looks like a showcase for astounding performances, with plenty of acclaim being thrown at quickly rising actressAlicia Vikander(Ex Machina) as well.
The Danish Girl, directed byTom Hooper, hits U.S. theaters onNovember 27thwith a cast that also includesAmber Heard,Matthias Schoenaerts, andBen Whishaw.
