Hauntingly Beautiful

Rating: 10/10 (2 January 2016)

2 January 2016 First Film of Choice at The Plaza Dorchester for this year - Eddie Redmayne delivered a hauntingly beautiful and powerful performance as both Einer and Lili, two people of opposite sex essentially sharing the same body. Artist Einer was painted by his wife as a woman and this brought suppressed feelings to the surface and he became increasingly ill at ease living his life as a man. This is a tale of fiction based on the real lives of a Danish couple who took part in the first male to female sex change operation, and we follow their emotional turbulent journey as Einer takes on the life of Lili, and how Gerda his wife, alternates between supporting and rejecting her husband. A childhood friend of Einer's becomes an unlikely ally offering support to all three members of the marriage. A sympathetically written script and beautifully filmed, Eddie Redmayne is is outstanding in these roles, together with very capable supporting actress Alicia Vikander and actor Matthias Schoenaerts. I await the awards season with interest.