The Skin I Live In: Review of The Danish Girl

The Danish Girl

Director: Tom Hooper

By Alex Watson

A pair of electric performances from Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander helps keep Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl alive. Although this is likely to secure both leads awards nominations, you can't help but feel this isn't a complete effort. The tale of Lili Elbe is one that is very humane and touching, but the script from Lucinda Coxon doesn't quite sparkle like we hoped. Hooper does well to give us a  powerful look at a person who risked it all to live comfortably in their own skin.

Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) is a success landscape artist living with his wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander) in Copenhagen. Together the pair lives a free-spirited and loving existence as they both paint. When her friend Ulla (Amber Heard) cannot make a sitting, Gerda asks Einar to stand in for her. What begins as an experiment turn into a life-changing experience for both. Soon Einar sheds his own existence and becomes a woman called Lili. From this, he will campaign to become who he was born to be.

The early stages of The Danish Girl have a fine playfulness to them, Einar at first jokingly puts on some tights and ballet shoes. Before long, it becomes like a spiritual awakening and watching him putting on a nurse dress for the first time is like watching him be reunited with an old lover. Gerda initially indulges this fantasy, one scene seems them dressing Einar up and taking him to a ball. His transformation into Lili is where the movie crosses over and what begins as a risque adventure soon becomes strained. Watching her husband kissing the smitten Henrik (Ben Whishaw) is like watch her life fracture before her eyes. "You're different from most girls" Henrik whispers, the irony hanging painfully on the air.

Centrally the inner struggle for Einar to live as himself and Lili is the main firing pin for the movie. Lili is now part of the marriage and Hooper invests equal time in examining the reactions from both sides. Einar tries to effectively get himself into the role, which includes this year's most interesting nude scene (think Ted Levine in Silence of the Lambs). Gerde, however, both flounders and embraces this new side of him. "I want to speak to my husband" she insists when dealing with a fully customed Lili. Rather than pushing her away from us, Hooper highlights her inner strength and understand of the tricky card she has been dealt. Wisely we are given a key supporting presence in Hans Axgil (Matthias Schoenaerts), a former friend/lover of Einar who sparks a mutual attraction for both leads. Hans is the shoulder that bears the burden of the heavier third act.

Despite The Danish Girl being an excellently acted and beautifully made picture, you cannot help but feel there is a something missing. Perhaps it is the rather wayward middle act where the pair heads to Paris? During this sequence, there is perhaps a little too much of Einar's struggle. Gerde emerges as the real lead during this point, but although her feelings for Hans conflict with her love for Lili we get the impression that Hooper is filling time. Although the film struggles to keep up with the fine acting, it does give way to one of the most moving endings. Einar desire to become Lili is realized when he meets a doctor about sex reassignment. Stating he believes his is truly a woman, Gerde responds "I believe it too" Love is proven to survive change because the person underneath counts the most.

Eddie Redmayne gives the boldest and transformative role of his career. Firmly capturing a conflicted soul born in the wrong skin, Redmayne's plays almost a dual role. As Einar he is the man yearning for a difference, Lili is the one who embraces it and becomes his real voice. An assured nominee, Redmayne is a man at the peak of his talents. Alicia Vikander comes away as the real star of the picture. A strong willed and energetic presence, she stubbornly refuses to fall back into the loving wife role. Vikander carries the film where Redmayne cannot and effortlessly comes across as the emotional core of Hooper's film.

Outside of the two outstanding leads, The Danish Girl may not be the awards contender many predicted. This story is still a potent reminder of the difficulty of living a different life and the strength it will take to make a big change.

Hear Me Roar: Review of Suffragette

Suffragette

Director: Sarah Gavron

By Alex Watson

A powerful central turn from the wonderfully consistent Carey Mulligan isn't enough to spark Sarah Gavron's Suffragette into life. A brutal recollection of a campaign where women literally put their bodies on the line to secure voting rights. The main problem is this film feels far more preachy and drawn out than neccessary. Mulligan's character is well realized and in places superbly underplayed, just a shame that writer Abi Morgan couldn't spread this to the other characters. 

Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan) is a working class woman who has worked in the same laundry since age 12. Although she leads a contented life with husband Sonny (Ben Whishaw) her son George, Maud is still struggling to survive. The Suffragette campaign for women's rights has taken a more militant approach under Emmeline Pankhurst (Meryl Streep) and soon Maud's eyes open to the oppression that women like are facing. However, the more she becomes involved, the more her life begins to falls apart. 

Suffragette is a well acted piece, there is no question there but it is also a rather narrow sighted picture by Gavron. All the men around Maud are shown as callous and sexist pigs that believe women don't deserve anything. Even Sonny eventually revealed as a rather fat headed chauvinist who believes her place is as his wife. At first, our heroine goes about her business without argument puts up with her lout boss Mr Taylor (Geoff Bell). When her friend Violet (Anne-Marie Duff) is unable to speak at Parliament, Maud takes her place and this introduction to activism provides her with a renewed purpose. 

Although Maud is well written, writer Abi Morgan doesn't given nearly the same treatment to character such as educated chemist Edith (Helena Bonham Carter) or her abused yet hopeful friend Violet (Anne-Marie Duff). Both ring in a fine pair of supporting performances but their depth only goes skin deep. Emmeline Pankhurst is made out as a holy and idolized figure but aside from a brief and barnstorming Meryl Streep appearance, her relevance to the story is minimal. The law men such as cynical detective Steed (Brendan Gleeson) are not presented as the boo-hiss villains expected. Steed is one of the few men who believes in keeping the peace and perhaps importantly, preventing these women from doing something worse. The exchanges between Steed and Maud are one of main flickers of electricity. 

Gavron does a decent job in presenting just how violent and risky this campaign became through time. Any numbers of times we see female activists attacked by police after venting their frustrations. Their actions such as bombing a government ministers empty home and the last drastic action of Emily Davison (Natalie Press) are neither praised or condemned. This picture works on a level where there is a level of repression that feels the need to break free. The third act is the one that slightly breaks the camel's back as the woman are imprisoned and attempt to go on hunger strike. Despite some hard-bitten force feeding, it just doesn't crackle like it should do. 

Overall Suffragette is a gritty and otherwise heartfelt piece but sadly it doesn't feel as meaty as one would expect. I expect we will probably see this among the ten Best Picture nominees, but its lack of depth on its subject may have some voters going against it.