One of the best period pieces from 2015

Rating: 6/10 (27 January 2016)

"The Danish Girl" is a 2-hour film from 2015 that deals with the lives of Gerda Wegener and Lili Elbe. For writer David Ebershoff and screenplay writer Lucinda Coxon, this British production is the biggest success of their career so far. A lot of it has to do with Academy Award winner Tom Hooper being in charge behind the camera here. And even if he missed out on nominations, his film is one of the big players this awards season with 4 Oscar nominations. Alicia Vikander (demoted to supporting) has a true shot at winning in my opinion. I believe she was good, not great, but certainly better than her competitors Winslet and Mara.
In the center of the film, however, is Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne's turn as a woman trapped in a man's body. It sure was a courageous endeavor she went on in terms of society and medicine when she makes the decision to go through with her plan of becoming a woman. The film features many actors I have never heard of for the smaller parts, but the likes of Ben Whishaw, Matthias Schoenaerts and Sebastian Koch are certainly familiar faces for film lovers.
I enjoyed the hell out of Hooper's last full feature film, "Les Misérables", which already had a strong performance by Redmayne too, so I cannot say I liked his newest film as much as I liked his previous, but it was still a pretty decent watch for the most part of its 120 minutes. Redmayne gracefully walks the fine line between over-the-top and authentic from start to finish and deserves his Oscar nomination too. There were a couple very moving moments and the film is almost never cringeworthy, which is a strong achievement for a movie that has a man walking around in drag for roughly 90 minutes. I recommend "The Danish Girl". It's nowhere near the best of 2015 in terms of films, but the two strong lead performances and the interesting story as well as the fine visual work are certainly worth checking out. Thumbs up.