Worthy In Award Season But Rather Sullen And Instantly Forgettable

Rating: 5/10 (28 December 2015)

You can understand the timing of this film's release . Get it in to the cinemas before a certain date and it qualifies for Oscars . On top of that being a recent release it'll be fresh when peoples minds when they cast their votes . With a weighty topic involving a true life story , good performances and other technical merits you can see what the producers of TDG are hoping for but to be honest it's a rather cold uninvolving film that doesn't really seem to exist except as Oscar bait
You'll probably know the premise before going to see the film and if not then both the posters and trailers will fill you in as to the basic story . Eddie Redmayne plays Einer Wegener and Alicia Vikander plays his wife Gerda . Something is not quite right with Einer and it's not just his constant infectious smile . When Henrik played by Ben Wishaw turns up the central idea of the movie is ripe for some cruel black comedy
Ah now I know what's wrong with TDG - it sinks under its own self importance . From the limited amount of Danish films I've seen there seems to be a competition as to make the most depressing film possible where audiences crawl lemming like to the cinema and transform in to grief whores . Tom Hooper realising the story is rather uncinematic uses some arty shots and the performances are fine and probably touches on the point that in a sexual relationship people have an irrational desire to be martyrs for one another but like Hooper's THE KINGS SPEECH the material would be perfectly suited to a television screen or even the theatre but lacks the scope to be true cinema . It also lacks the charm that THE KINGS SPEECH had and that's got to be judged a fundamental failure