Beautifully acted story of first transgender female

Rating: 8/10 (13 March 2017)

Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl tells the story of one of the first transgender females, at least one of the first, if not THE first one to undergo the sex change surgery. Set in 1926, the sets are very well designed and accurate to the time period. The makeup used in the film is fantastic, very beautiful classic style of makeup, the makeup has to be good for a film of this kind, it just has to be. The sequence where Einer is putting on his makeup for the first time is breathtaking visually and very well done. I loved the costume design for each individual character, especially lili. The costumes that lili wore suited her so very well and she looked absolutely beautiful in all of them. And Alicia Vikander looks great in both her makeup and tee various costumes. Now we get to the best part of the entire film, and that is the performances by the actors. We'll start with the academy award winning performance given by Alicia Vikander. Vikander gives a truly moving, deep performance that is rooted in love and rife with strong emotion throughout. Her character goes through a lot as you can imagine. Eddie Redmayne is such a marvelous actor! He plays both Einer and lili sooo well. The way in which he behaves, talks and behaves as lili is so skilled and natural, you never feel like you're watching Eddie act, it feels real. There are a couple of scenes I would like to recognize because they were so needed and crucial to this film. One scene is where Einer is nude in front of a mirror and he tucks his penis in between his legs and it looks like he now has a vulva, this is a crucial scene that HAD to be included, it showcase his character's journey to self discovery. Another is Einer visiting a peep show to see a nude woman and see how she moves and examine/mimic her mannerisms, another scene showcasing self discovery. I feel the ending was handled fairly well, no complaints about that. Moving, well acted, visually great looking and important story. 8/10