The Danish Girl (film)

The film participated in the main competition of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival,^[7][8] and it was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.^[9] The film had a limited release on 27 November 2015 by Focus Features in the United States.^[10] The film was released on 1 January 2016, in the United Kingdom, with Universal Pictures handling international distribution.^[11]


In spite of criticism for inaccurate portrayal of historical events, Redmayne and Vikander's performances received widespread acclaim and nominations for all the major acting awards. Vikander won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Redmayne was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, while the film received additional Academy Award nominations for Best Production Design and Best Costume Design at the 88th Academy Awards. It received five BAFTA Award nominations, including BAFTA Award for Best British Film at the 69th British Academy Film Awards.

Plot[edit]

In mid-1920s Copenhagen, portrait artist Gerda Wegener asks her husband, a popular landscape artist and closeted trans woman (then going by the name Einar Wegener), to stand in for a female model, who is late arriving at their flat to pose for a painting Gerda is working on.


The act of posing as a female figure unmasks Einar's life-long gender identity as a woman, who then names herself Lili Elbe. This sets off a progression, first tentative and then irreversible, of leaving behind the male identity which she has struggled to maintain all her 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, a childhood friend of Lili (whom Lili had kissed when they were young). Hans and Gerda's mutual attraction is a challenge, as Gerda is navigating her changing relationship with Lili; but Hans' long-time friendship with and affection for Lili cause him to be supportive of both Lili and Gerda.


As Lili's continued existence presenting as a male becomes too much to bear, she starts to seek help from psychologists, but none yields any result, and, in one instance, almost leads her to being committed to an asylum. Eventually, at Ulla's recommendation, Lili and Gerda meet Dr. Kurt Warnekros. Dr. Warnekros explains that he has met people like her, who are physically male but identify as female. He proposes an innovative and controversial solution: male-to-female sex reassignment surgery. He also mentions that this is the second time he has offered this surgery, but the first patient got too nervous and left before the surgery began. 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 Lili and Gerda that it is a very dangerous operation which 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 without Gerda to begin the surgery.


Gerda stays behind for a little while, but ultimately decides she should be by Lili's side. She arrives after Lili has completed the first surgery and is very much in pain with a serious infection and negative prognosis. Gerda helps Lili heal and Lili begins working in a department store selling women's perfume. She befriends a man who was originally interested in her as Einar and she emphasizes that Gerda's relationship with Einar is over because Einar is gone. She stays a while, but decides it is time to go back for the second surgery, much to Gerda's distress. Lili again leaves alone.


Gerda again shows up after the surgery is complete, but Lili is pale and weak. She feels complete and insists she be taken out to the garden again. Lili dies of complications from the second surgery while talking with Gerda. Gerda and Hans travel to a hilltop back in Denmark where Hans and Lili grew up, in front of the five trees Lili often painted. The scarf that Lili had originally given Gerda, which had subsequently been given back and forth several times, is carried away on the wind, dancing.