The Danish Girl

When I first saw “The Danish Girl” in 2015, as I suspected, it did not disappoint in the least. Its portrayal of the first transgender reassignment surgery in the year of 1930 of Einer Wegener, who became Lili Elbe after the surgery, and was also a famous Danish painter, was both moving and beautiful. This was one of the best and memorable movies I’ve ever seen and lives up to the ranks of “The Reader”, “Schlinder’s List”, and “Atonement” to name a few. It’s storyline had the same type of profound impact on me that those aforementioned movies did, and I cannot begin to say enough about Eddie Redmayne’s character portrayal of Lili Elbe. As always, he is an absolutely phenomenal character actor, and in this particular instance, he outdid himself. It was no small wonder that he did win the Oscar for his portrayal of the main character. Its Director, Tom Hooper, sensitively and wonderfully handled a difficult subject matter while envoking the most moving performances from each of his actors. No matter what your opinion is or your stand on transgender individuals and sex reassignment surgery may be, this movie speaks volumes to us on a much greater plane about so much more, including love, tolerance, and acceptance. However, the movie does give us an informative view on the aforementioned subject matters as well, providing valuable and eye opening informaton. “The Danish Girl” makes an enormous impact and statement about the profundity of enduring and unconditional love, as well as perseverance and courage in the face of adversity. Not only does it make an impact in these ways, its cast, direction, screenplay, costume design, and cinematography make it collectively one of the best of its time. If you see “The Danish Girl”, I don’t think you will be sorry.