Overwrought, overdone, overly dramatic performances...

Rating: Null/10 (30 July 2016)

This was basically a PBS/BBC/Lifetime Network TV movie, but due to it's content and budget it became an independent feature film.
The cinematography was not good, out of touch with the story and moments, and basically seemed a little self-indulgent. Many of the shots seemed like they were chosen because of how cool they looked, and not because it was a reflection of the moment, nor furthered the story. The wide angle lens was the worst choice out of all the lenses...were they saying it was warped?
This movie would have made a better stage play, in story, but mainly due to the over-dramatic nature of the performances that suits the theater and not the cinema.
There was no real sense of drama, and the stakes were very low. Society doesn't accept you...we get it. Most doctors think you're nuts...we get it. You aren't happy with yourself...we get it. Any conflict that was in this story was easily stepped over, and we never, not for one second, thought this guy wasn't going to go through with it. By the way, Eddie Redmayne played this character as more of an effeminate homosexual, than a trapped woman. Alicia VIkander had more balls, sexuality and femininity than Redmayne. There were a lot of woman in this movie, and Redmayne wasn't like any of them.
The more I think about this movie, the worse it seems to get. Too on the nose with every moment, too much Lifetime Network styling, too much theater sensibility. And too much piano. The Kings Speech was better, but still like a stage play.
It's no coincidence that Tom Hopper has a background in both Theater and Television...that's were he should stay. These films aren't cinema, they are filmed TV Plays, and they are better suited for those mediums.
Come to think of it, this movie seems like a parody. The ending was just plan silly (insert introspective piano melody).