Review – The Danish Girl
In 2010, director Tom Hooper undeservedly won an Oscar for Best Director for The King’s Speech over David Fincher for The Social Network. Last year, Eddie Redmayne undeservedly won an Oscar for Best Actor for is impersonation of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything over Michael Keaton in Birdman. Now, both undeserved winners team up in an attempt to both add another Oscar to their mantle in a movie that is tailor-made for the Academy.
How did the effort fare? Let’s just say, if The Danish Girl wins any awards besides a Razzie, I’m going to lose my mind, as it is a melodramatic, cheesy mess with some laughable moments that I don’t think were intentional.
The Danish Girl is the true story of Einar and Gerda Wegener (Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander), two artists who’s love life and work begin to change when Einar believes that he is a woman and slowly becomes the what he would eventually be known as, Lili.
I don’t understand the love for Eddie Redmayne. His performance last year as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything was more of an impression than an actual performance. I wonder if he got the part in this movie because he sounded like an 80 year old British woman who smoked two packs a day in Jupiter Ascending. His performance is again one that people will awe at, but is actually just him playing dress-up for two hours. There is probably only one or two scenes of actual acting in his role, the rest is just him in a dress smiling or crying. It will probably be nominated for an Oscar, because the Academy eats this stuff up, but it isn’t anything special.
I’ll tell you who is special is Alicia Vikander. Vikander, who already gave one of the year’s best performances in Ex-Machina, is the best part of this movie by a mile. This movie is seen through the eyes of Gerda, and Vikander carries this movie. She progressively sees the man that she loves become a woman and their love slowly begins to crumble. It’s a solid performance from one of the great, young talents in Hollywood and I can’t wait to see what she does next.
Tom Hooper continues to make movies fit for the BBC, but some how gets them on the big screen. I did enjoyed The King’s Speech, but it was hardly worthy of a Best Picture and Best Director win at the Oscars that year and his version of Les Miserables (2012) is probably his best film to date, as it actually felt cinematic. Hooper has made a lifeless melodrama in The Danish Girl. The movie felt like a chore to watch, as nothing was enjoyable or exciting at all. Hooper hides the film’s emptiness behind glamorous costumes and cinematography. It doesn’t help, as you can see right through it and see the movie for what it really is.
The Danish Girl is an incredible story that needed to be told. However, it was put in the wrong hands and the end result is a tailor-made Oscar prestige picture that is overly melodramatic and lifeless. The only saving grace of the film is extremely talented Alicia Vikander, who’s performance is compelling enough to make me slightly care about the happenings on screen.
MY RATING – 1.5/4
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