Flawed, but Eddie R., Alicia V. and amazing production values makes for a grand film.

Rating: 9/10 (12 January 2016)

I love true stories, and this one is one of the most important true stories ever. Its current, its complex, its huge. So did the film match the importance of the story and give its heroes Gerda and Einar Wegener (and many others) a deserving honor as big as they were? Well i think that yes, in some ways. But its a flawed homage with quite a few big problems.
The biggest one is the fact that there's no insight, no introspective, the writer and the director seem to assume all the time that you know whats in the characters heads, their reasons and so... and its their reasons that it's also a big problem. You might get the feeling that this film is like a mini series of 6 hours turned into a 2 hour film. And for the most part what you get its the bigger scenes, which are the conclusions to many chapters of this characters lives. They all are huge conclusions thats for sure, but the lack of the path to said conclusions hurts the film and your feelings about it. You see the characters actions, but rarely do you see them discussing their reasons, fears, everything, until they actually do something, in a satisfying way.
And many scenes are too objective, this is specially obvious in the third act, that seems too rushed, barely touching on the surgery and the characters thoughts. And this also makes the film lack in emotional heft. I noticed especially at the end, where the film didn't have the emotional impact on me i expected. If one thing describes this film is to the point.The 2h really fly.
But films are subjective, as they should be, and so you can't argue emotions with logic. You can admit and recognize facts, as this part is bad or good... but if you feel the film is perfect to you or you loved it deep down, the facts, the problems, wont matter much or nothing at all. And this goes the other way around when you hate or dislike. Which is something that most people today refuse to understand, as they declare war against those who loved something they hated or hated something they loved.
And this is what happened with me, as i think this problems are hugely mitigated by 3 things, Eddie Redmayne. Alicia Vikander and the amazing production vales.
The two main leads are so great you just want to cover them with Oscars, and all kinds of awards. There's great performances that you love and then there's performances like this, that leaves you in awe the entire film, wondering how someone can give performances like this. Eddie Redmayne deservedly won the Oscar last year, and no matter how brilliant he is here he wont win, thanks to Leonardo Dicaprio, who is long overdue, which is to say the least, But Alicia Vikander might have a small shot at winning. Its unlikely thanks do Brie Larson and Saoirse Ronan, but who knows?
Eddie R. and Alicia V. are the true homage to the heroes of the story, accompanied by an amazing supporting cast, while the film itself might not reach the heights it could have, the actors more than compensate this, elevating the film to another level, one it possibly couldn't reach without them.
When the screenplay fails to have insight, thoughts, dialogue or scenes necessary to feel in the gaps of the story, the actors compensate with their performances, with their meticulous expressions and especially the film is very objective so there's not the emotional heft it should or could have, they are ones that bring the emotional heft, they are the one that makes you feel the mentions the film fails to evoke.
And of course the production values are brilliant, especially the amazing cinematography and production design, that create an amazing imagery and atmosphere, along with another epic score from Alexandre Desplat that reads the story superbly.
So once again this is a flawed film yes, it fails to achieve what it could have but to me the flaws are hugely mitigated by Eddie, Alicia and the quality of the production and what matters is that this story was told, and the heroes represented. Watch the film, because it really deserves, and i hope you can go beyond the flaws and focus on the grander picture as i did.