The Danish Girl (film)

The Danish Girl

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Tom Hooper
Produced by
Screenplay by Lucinda Coxon
Based on The Danish Girl
by David Ebershoff
Starring
Music by Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography Danny Cohen
Edited by Melanie Ann Oliver
Production
companies
  • Working Title
  • Pretty Pictures
  • Artemis Productions
  • Revision Pictures
  • Senator Global Productions
Distributed by Focus Features (United States)
Universal Pictures (International)
Release dates
  • 5 September 2015 (2015-09-05) (Venice)
  • 27 November 2015 (2015-11-27) (United States)
  • 1 January 2016 (2016-01-01) (United Kingdom)
Running time
119 minutes[1]
Country
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Language English
Budget $15 million[2]
Box office $64.2 million[3]

The Danish Girl is a 2015 British-American biographical romantic drama film directed by Tom Hooper, based on the 2000 fictional novel of the same name by David Ebershoff and loosely inspired by the lives of Danish painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener.[4] The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery, Alicia Vikander as Wegener, Matthias Schoenaerts as Hans Axgil, and Ben Whishaw as Henrik.

The film was screened in the main competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival,[5][6] and it was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.[7] The film was released in a limited release on 27 November 2015 by Focus Features in the United States.[8] The film was released on 1 January 2016, in the United Kingdom, with Universal Pictures International handling international distribution.[9]

The film received some criticism for its inaccurate portrayal of historical events, but Redmayne and Vikander's performances received widespread acclaim and nominations for all of the major acting awards. Vikander won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Redmayne was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. It was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.

Plot

In mid-1920s Copenhagen, portrait artist Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) asks her husband, popular landscape artist Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne), to stand in for a female model who is late to come to their flat to pose for a painting she's working on.

The act of posing as a female figure unmasks Einar's lifelong identification as a woman, whom he has named Lili Elbe. This sets off a progression, first tentative and then irreversible, of leaving behind the identity as Einar, which he has struggled to maintain all his life. This takes place as both Lili and Gerda relocate to Paris; Gerda's portraits of Lili in her feminine state attract serious attention from art dealers in a way that her previous portraiture had not. It is there that Gerda tracks down art dealer Hans Axgil (Matthias Schoenaerts), a childhood friend of Lili (Hans had been the first boy who had ever kissed him as Lili). Hans and Gerda's mutual attraction is a challenge, as Gerda is navigating her changing relationship to Lili; but Hans' long-time friendship with and affection for Lili cause him to be supportive of both Lili and Gerda.

As Einar's continued existence as his male self becomes too much for Lili, she starts to seek help from psychologists, but none yields any result, and, in one instance, almost leads her into being committed to an asylum. Eventually, at Hans's recommendation, Lili and Gerda meet Dr. Kurt Warnekros (Sebastian Koch). Dr. Warnekros explains that he has met several people like Lili, who identify as female, and proposes a new, innovative and controversial solution: male to female sex reassignment surgery. This would entail a two-part procedure that involves first removing Lili's external genitalia and then, after a period of recovery, fashioning a vagina. He warns them that it is a very dangerous operation that has never been attempted before, and Lili would be one of the first to undergo it. Lili immediately agrees and, soon after, travels to Germany to begin the surgery. Unfortunately, her eagerness to shed the vestiges of the male anatomy leads it to rush the sequence of procedures, and Lili eventually dies of complications from the surgery. The movie ends with Gerda and Hans on a hilltop back in Denmark, in front of the five trees Lili had painted way back in her male life as a painter. The scarf that Lili had originally given Gerda, and that had subsequently been given back and forth several times, is carried away on the wind, dancing.

Cast

Production

Development

Screenwriter Lucinda Coxon worked on the screenplay for a decade before it was produced. She told Creative Screenwriting:

I started in 2004 and within a couple of years we had a script we were happy to send out. We were terribly excited and I was fantastically naïve, because when you fall in love with a project, you assume that everyone else will be in love with it as well. The actors were very much in love with it. Several well-known actresses wanted to play Gerda, but the subject matter made it quite difficult to find someone to play Lili. We scheduled various directors and with each director came a new draft.[10]

In September 2009, Tomas Alfredson revealed to Variety that production on the project would precede that of his upcoming Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy adaptation, adding: "We have been in talks for close to a year, and we are soon going into production".[11] In December 2009, Swedish newspapers reported that Alfredson was no longer attached to direct The Danish Girl and would begin work on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy next. Alfredson said he regretted that reports of him working on The Danish Girl spread before the deal was finalized. He also said that he still wanted to make the film and might return to the project.[12][13]

On 12 January 2010, Swedish director Lasse Hallström told Swedish media that he had been assigned to replace Alfredson as director.[14]

Casting

Charlize Theron was originally slated to play the role of Gerda Wegener but, after leaving the project, was replaced by Gwyneth Paltrow.[15] Paltrow then left the project due to location changes.[16] Uma Thurman was also a rumoured replacement. In September 2010, Marion Cotillard was rumored to be the lead candidate for the role of Gerda Wegener.[17]

On 11 June 2010, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the film had received €1.2 million ($1.5 million) in subsidy financing from Germany's NRW Film Board. The conditions of the deal include the planned 19-day shoot in Germany.[18] In February 2011, Screen Daily reported that the film would begin shooting in July of the same year and that Rachel Weisz would play Wegener.[19] In May, it was revealed that both Weisz and Hallström had left the project.[20]

On 28 April 2014, it was announced that Tom Hooper would direct the film with Eddie Redmayne as the lead.[21] On 19 June 2014, Alicia Vikander was announced in the cast.[22] On 8 January 2015, Matthias Schoenaerts joined the cast.[23]

Filming

Filming was projected to start in Spring 2010 in Berlin.[24][25] Coxon revealed to Creative Screenwriting that, when filming finally began with Hooper, he actually filmed an older version of the script:

We had probably gone through 20 drafts before landing Tom Hooper. In fact, the one we shot was actually an early revised draft that Tom had read back in 2008. I did a fairly large rewrite for Tom, but in the end, we used a version with little revision from the original.[10]

Filming began in February 2015, where Redmayne was spotted on set.[26] Filming also took place at Nyhavn, where the iconic waterfront was transformed to look like Copenhagen in the 1930s.[27][28] On 31 March 2015, Redmayne was spotted filming a fight scene.[29] Sets for the Danish and Paris flats were built in the Elstree Studios in London and additional shooting took place in Copenhagen and Brussels.[30] Production on the film concluded on 12 April 2015. Filming took 44 days for the 186 scenes in six countries.[30]

Post-production

Post-production ended in September 2015.[31] According to composer, Alexandre Desplat, post-production was very fast, with the film being cut as Desplat was writing the score, which was recorded only a week prior to the film's premiere at the Venice Film Festival.[32]

Hooper revealed to Indiewire and After Ellen that the film's ending is different from the novel (in which Lili and Gerda do not stay together) and he de-emphasized the importance of the Hans storyline because he did not want to feel that there was a love possibility for Gerda with Hans that could in any way rival Lili. He wanted it to be ambiguous whether it would turn into a love affair, rather than a friendship, because he saw Lili and Gerda and the loves of each other's lives. He took the script in that direction to protect the importance of their relationship.[33][34]

In an interview with MTV International, Vikander revealed that two scenes featuring Amber Heard dancing were cut from the film, as well as stating the first cut for the film was over 2 hours.[35]

Release

On 4 March 2015, Focus Features set the film for a limited release on 27 November 2015.[36] The film had its world premiere at the 72nd Venice Film Festival on 5 September 2015.[37][38] Universal Pictures handled distribution in other territories outside the U.S., with a release on 1 January 2016, in the United Kingdom.[9] The film will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on 1 March in the United States.[39]

Marketing

The first image of Redmayne as Lili Elbe was revealed on 26 February 2015.[40] A pair of posters of Redmayne and Vikander were then released in August,[41] On 1 September 2015, the first trailer was released.[42] on 19 November 2015, The first clip from the film was released.[43]

Reception

Box office

As of 26 February 2016, The Danish Girl has grossed $11 million in North America and $42.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $53.7 million, against a budget of $15 million.[3]

The film had a limited release in the United States and Canada across four cinemas in New York and Los Angeles on 27 November 2015 before expanding cinemas in December.[44] The film earned $185,000 in its opening weekend, averaging $46,250, which is the sixth-best opening weekend per cinema average of 2015.[44] The opening weekend’s audience was 58% female, and 67% were over 40.[44]

Critical response

The Danish Girl received generally positive reviews from critics, particularly for its acting and sensitive handling of a difficult subject matter. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 70%, based on 198 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The consensus reads "The Danish Girl serves as another showcase for Eddie Redmayne's talent – and poignantly explores thought-provoking themes with a beautifully filmed biopic drama".[45] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[46]

The film's acting, particularly that of Redmayne and Vikander in the lead roles, received considerable acclaim, with Marie Asner of Phantom Tollbooth stating that "the acting is what makes this film"[47] and Damien Straker of Impulse Gamer writing that "two commanding performances give it a gripping emotional weight that is very affecting".[48] Redmayne's performance was described as "another sterling example of just how deeply he can immerse himself into a role" by Jim Schembri of 3AW, and as "revealing, heartbreaking and believable" by Linda Cook of Quad-City Times.[49]

Kyle Buchanan, writing for Vulture, complained that it was part of a trend of "queer and trans films that are actually about straight people",[50] while Paul Byrnes for The Sydney Morning Herald said it was "a lost opportunity" in which "the frocks are more convincing than the emotions."[51] Casey Plett, a transgender writer, criticized the script in a conversation in The Walrus as "atrocious and boring", going on to say "It’s like someone got inspired by a Shakespeare tragedy, then combined the verbosity of R.L. Stine with the subtlety of Brendan Fraser."[52]

Controversy

The film received some criticism for the casting of a cisgender man to play a trans woman.[53] It has also been criticised for being written similarly to forced feminization erotica, obscuring the actual story of a historical trans person,[54][55] and for being based on a fictional book that does not tell the true story of Lili and Gerda Wegener.[56][57][58]

Historical accuracy

Ban

The film has been banned in Qatar on grounds of moral depravity,[81] and also in the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, and Malaysia.[82]

Accolades

See also

References

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  2. "How 'The Danish Girl' Made It to the Screen After a 15-Year Odyssey". Indiewire. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  3. 1 2 "The Danish Girl (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
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  6. "Venice Fest Reveals Robust Lineup Featuring Hollywood Stars and International Auteurs". Variety. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
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