Altering the
history and gender of ‘The Danish Girl’
BY KAORI SHOJI SPECIAL TO THE JAPAN TIMES MAR
23, 2016
Are you into Scandinavian design? If you are, “The Danish Girl”
will have you swooning. Even the first 10
seconds of the opening scene will provoke design envy and, for those who care
about the details, Copenhagen
apartment envy, circa 1926. Director Tom Hooper is clearly enthralled by Danish
art and artists, and the camera lingers long and lovingly over the blue-gray
shades of the Danish sky, the incredible white nights of its summers and the elusive beauty of the light that inspired so many
artists. “The Danish Girl” is a fictional biopic
of Lili Elbe, but Hooper’s attention often wanders from that subject, as he
focuses on curating the breathtaking beauty and
elegance suspended in the frame.
While Hooper’s
appreciation of Danish light and art provides an intensely satisfying
experience, sadly the same cannot be said for what actually takes place in the
film. Based on a novel of the same name by David Ebershoff and adapted for the
screen by Lucinda Coxon, “The Danish Girl” examines the bond between a wife and
her husband, a man who needs to break out of his shell and is almost entirely
dependent on her to do so. Hooper also directed “The King’s Speech,” the
multiple Oscar winner that was also about marriage, and the bond that triggered
a husband to become a greater man than he was before. But while Hooper was
entirely focused on the pair in that film, the director seems to lack conviction in “The Danish Girl.” The result is a
somewhat pedestrian and heavily sanitized take on an incredibly interesting,
unconventional relationship.
In Copenhagen in the 1920s,
married couple Gerda and Einar Wegener (Alicia Vikander and Eddie Redmayne)
live happily as painters. Gerda makes striking portraits, while Einar’s
specialty is landscapes inspired by childhood memories. When their best friend
Ulla (Amber Heard) is late for a sitting for one of Gerda’s paintings, Gerda
asks Einar to drape a ballerina’s dress over his body so she can finish up
certain details. Einar obliges, and then
discovers that he loves the feel of silk and chiffon
against his skin.
Gerda is amused by
his delight and encourages the introverted Einar
to go to a party dressed up as “Lili Elbe,” whom Gerda introduces to the guests
as Einar’s cousin from the country. Lili is an immediate hit, and gains an
admirer in Henrik (Ben Whishaw), who declares her beautiful. Einar realizes
that he had been living a lie, and confesses to Gerda he doesn’t feel like a
man anymore.
Redmayne has the femininity thing down: the way Lili shyly averts her
gaze when a man looks at her, the scarlet lipstick
that offsets the curl
of her lips, how she runs her fingers on her dresses and turns the action into
a statement of sensuality. Redmayne’s skill
serves as both the movie’s conceit and foil:
Lili Elbe strives to be a woman, but she ends up being a flimsy caricature. Einar even stops painting, since
that had been the work he had been doing as a man.
The real Lili Elbe
was a pioneering transgender woman in a time when such people were viewed as perverted sociopaths, and in the film Gerda takes
great effort to find a sympathetic doctor who will perform a sex change
operation for Einar. In an online interview, Hooper commented that people were
much more “giving” with their love in the 1920s and apparently that’s his
explanation for why Gerda does what she does.
But really — is
that it? The story somehow circumvents the pain
and emotional conflict that must arise from this situation. You can see hints
of it in Gerda’s face and eyes, though, and Vikander’s performance homes in on
the core of Gerda’s devotion to Einar, and the struggle to maintain her equilibrium and own personal identity. She rightfully
won an Oscar for best actress in a supporting role. Is it just me or is there a
slight ring of irony in there somewhere?
Structure of the lead:
Who- The
Danish Girl
When- MAR 23, 2016
What- A
movie about transgender
Why- To
have sympathetic to transgender
How-Serious
Keywords:
1. Scandinavian-北歐語的
2. swoon-暈倒;失去知覺;動感情
3. elusive-難以理解的;逃避的
4. biopic-傳記片
5. curate-管理;當…的館長
6. oblige-幫忙
7. chiffon-雪紡;薄綢
8. introvert-使內向
9. offset-抵銷;襯托出
10. equilibrium-均衡;平靜