''The Danish Girl'' is a 2015
biographical
A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...
romantic drama
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
film directed by
Tom Hooper
Thomas George Hooper (born 5 October 1972)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005''. 5d: 2485. is a British-Australian filmmaker.
Hooper began making short films as a teenager and had his first professional short, ...
, based on the 2000
novel of the same name by
David Ebershoff
David Ebershoff is an American writer, editor, and teacher. His debut novel, ''The Danish Girl'', was adapted into an Academy Awards, Academy Award-winning The Danish Girl (film), film of the same name in 2015, while his third novel, ''The 19th ...
, and loosely inspired by the lives of Danish painters
Lili Elbe
Lili Ilse Elvenes (28 December 1882 – 13 September 1931), better known as Lili Elbe, was a Danish painter and transgender woman, and among the early recipients of sex reassignment surgery. She was a successful painter under her birth name Ein ...
and
Gerda Wegener
Gerda Marie Fredrikke Wegener ( Gottlieb; 15 March 1886 – 28 July 1940) was a Danish illustrator and painter. Wegener is known for her fashion illustrations and later her paintings that pushed the boundaries of gender and love of her time. ...
.
The film stars
Eddie Redmayne
Edward John David Redmayne (; born 6 January 1982) is an English actor. Known for his roles in biopics and blockbusters, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Olivier Awards.
He ...
as Elbe, one of the first known recipients of
gender affirmation surgery
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and al ...
,
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Amanda Vikander (, ; born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critics' Choice Movie Award, as well as receiving nominations for ...
as Wegener, and
Sebastian Koch
Sebastian Koch (born 31 May 1962) is a German television and film actor. He is known for roles in the 2007 Academy Award-winning film ''The Lives of Others'', in Steven Spielberg's '' Bridge of Spies'', and as Otto Düring in the fifth season of ...
as
Kurt Warnekros
Kurt Warnekros (November 15, 1882–September 30, 1949) was a German gynaecologist and pioneer in sexual reassignment surgery.
Biography
Kurt Warnekros was born on November 15, 1882 in the family of the professor of medicine Ludwig Warnekros ...
, with
Ben Whishaw
Benjamin John Whishaw (born 14 October 1980) is an English actor and producer. After winning a British Independent Film Award for his performance in ''My Brother Tom'' (2001), he was nominated for an Olivier Award for his portrayal of the titl ...
,
Amber Heard
Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress. She had her first leading role in the horror film ''All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'' (2006), and went on to star in films such as '' The Ward'' (2010) and '' Drive Angry'' (2011). S ...
, and
Matthias Schoenaerts
Matthias Schoenaerts (; ; born 8 December 1977) is a Belgian actor. He made his film debut at the age of 13 in '' Daens'' (1992), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is best known for his roles as Filip in ...
in supporting roles.
The film participated in the main competition of the
72nd Venice International Film Festival
The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition. A restored version of Federico Fellini's film ''Amarcord'' was shown at the ...
,
and it was shown in the Special Presentations section of the
2015 Toronto International Film Festival
The 40th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 September 2015. On 28 July 2015 the first wave of films to be screened at the Festival was announced. Jean-Marc Vallée's ''Demolition'' starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naom ...
.
The film was released in a
limited release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on 27 November 2015 by
Focus Features
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...
in the United States. The film was released on 1 January 2016, in the United Kingdom, with
Universal Pictures International
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
handling international distribution.
In spite of criticism for its inaccurate portrayal of historical events, Redmayne and Vikander's performances received widespread acclaim and nominations for all of the major acting awards. For their performances, Vikander won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Redmayne was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actor
The Academy Award for Best Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role in a film released that year. The ...
, while the film received additional
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
nominations for
Best Production Design and
Best Costume Design at the
88th Academy Awards
The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. PST. Du ...
. It also received five
BAFTA Award
The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...
nominations, including
BAFTA Award for Best British Film
The BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 1st British Academy Film Awards, first recognising the ...
at the
69th British Academy Film Awards
The 69th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, were held on 14 February 2016 at the Royal Opera House in London, honouring the best national and foreign films of 2015. Presented by the British Academy of Film and Telev ...
.
Plot
In mid-1920s Copenhagen, portrait artist Gerda Wegener asks her husband, a popular landscape artist and closeted
trans woman
A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and so ...
(then going by Einar Wegener), to stand in for a female model, who is late arriving at their flat to pose for a painting on which Gerda is working.
The act of posing as a female figure unmasks Einar's life-long
gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the i ...
as a woman, who then names herself
Lili Elbe
Lili Ilse Elvenes (28 December 1882 – 13 September 1931), better known as Lili Elbe, was a Danish painter and transgender woman, and among the early recipients of sex reassignment surgery. She was a successful painter under her birth name Ein ...
. 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
Kurt Warnekros (November 15, 1882–September 30, 1949) was a German gynaecologist and pioneer in sexual reassignment surgery.
Biography
Kurt Warnekros was born on November 15, 1882 in the family of the professor of medicine Ludwig Warnekros ...
. Dr. Warnekros explains that he has met people like her, who are physically male but identify as female. He proposes a new, innovative and controversial solution: male-to-female
sex reassignment surgery
Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a transgender or transsexual person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender, and alle ...
. He also mentions that this is the second time he's offered this surgery, but the first patient got too nervous and left before the surgeries 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 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 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 to Lili having completed the first surgery, but very much in pain with a serious infection and negative prognosis. Gerda helps Lili heal and Lili begins working in a department store selling woman'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's 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, and that had subsequently been given back and forth several times, is carried away on the wind, dancing.
Cast
*
Eddie Redmayne
Edward John David Redmayne (; born 6 January 1982) is an English actor. Known for his roles in biopics and blockbusters, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Olivier Awards.
He ...
as
Einar Wegener / Lili Elbe (Lili Elvenes)
*
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Amanda Vikander (, ; born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critics' Choice Movie Award, as well as receiving nominations for ...
as
Gerda Wegener (née Gottlieb)
*
Matthias Schoenaerts
Matthias Schoenaerts (; ; born 8 December 1977) is a Belgian actor. He made his film debut at the age of 13 in '' Daens'' (1992), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is best known for his roles as Filip in ...
as Hans Axgil (Fernando Porta)
*
Ben Whishaw
Benjamin John Whishaw (born 14 October 1980) is an English actor and producer. After winning a British Independent Film Award for his performance in ''My Brother Tom'' (2001), he was nominated for an Olivier Award for his portrayal of the titl ...
as Henrik Sandahl (Claude Lejeune)
*
Amber Heard
Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress. She had her first leading role in the horror film ''All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'' (2006), and went on to star in films such as '' The Ward'' (2010) and '' Drive Angry'' (2011). S ...
as
Ulla Paulson
*
Sebastian Koch
Sebastian Koch (born 31 May 1962) is a German television and film actor. He is known for roles in the 2007 Academy Award-winning film ''The Lives of Others'', in Steven Spielberg's '' Bridge of Spies'', and as Otto Düring in the fifth season of ...
as
Dr. Kurt Warnekros
*
Pip Torrens
Philip D'Oyly "Pip" Torrens (born 2 June 1960) is an English actor.
Known for playing urbane, authoritative figures, Torrens portrayed courtier Tommy Lascelles in the Netflix drama ''The Crown'', aristocrat Lord Massen in the HBO series ''The ...
as Dr. Jens Hexler
*
Nicholas Woodeson
Nicholas Woodeson (born 30 November 1949) is an English film, television and theatre actor, and Drama Desk and Olivier award nominee.
Early life
Woodeson was born in Sudan and lived in the Middle East as a boy. He started performing at prep sc ...
as Dr. Buson
*
Emerald Fennell as Elsa
*
Adrian Schiller
Adrian Schiller (born 21 February 1964) is an English actor.
Selected filmography
*''The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other'' (2008, theatre performance)
*''Terry Pratchett's Going Postal'' (2010) (cast as the Banshee, Mr Gryle)
*'' Being Hum ...
as Rasmussen
* Henry Pettigrew as Niels
* Pixie as Hvappe, the
Jack Russell dog
Production
Development
Screenwriter
Lucinda Coxon
Lucinda Coxon (born 1962) is an English playwright and screenwriter. She was born in Derby.
Education
In 1981, Coxon enrolled at Somerville College, Oxford.
Works
Plays
Coxon's plays include ''Improbabilities'' at Soho Poly; ''Waiting at th ...
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.
In September 2009,
Tomas Alfredson
Hans Christian Tomas Alfredson (born 1 April 1965) is a Swedish film director who is best known internationally for directing the 2008 vampire film '' Let the Right One In'' and 2011 espionage film ''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy''. Alfredson has re ...
revealed to ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' that production on the project would precede that of his upcoming ''
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
''Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' is a 1974 spy novel by British author John le Carré. It follows the endeavours of taciturn, aging spymaster George Smiley to uncover a Soviet mole in the British Secret Intelligence Service. The novel has receive ...
'' adaptation, adding: "We have been in talks for close to a year, and we are soon going into production". 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.
On 12 January 2010, Swedish director
Lasse Hallström
Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström (; born 2 June 1946) is a Swedish film director. He first became known for directing almost all the music videos by the pop group ABBA, and subsequently became a feature film director. He was nominated for an Acade ...
told Swedish media that he had been assigned to replace Alfredson as director.
Casting
In 2008,
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an American and Australian actress and producer. Known for her work across various film and television productions from several genres, she has consistently ranked among the world's highest-paid act ...
was originally attached to play Einar/Lili and would also produce the film through her company
Blossom Films
Blossom Films is a production company founded by American-born Australian actress Nicole Kidman in 2010. The first production by the company was the film '' Rabbit Hole'', based on the play of the same name by David Lindsay-Abaire.
History
In 201 ...
.
Charlize Theron
Charlize Theron ( ; ; born 7 August 1975) is a South African and American actress and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actresses, she is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. In 20 ...
was originally slated to play the role of Gerda Wegener but, after leaving the project, was replaced by
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...
.
[Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow to play husband and wife](_blank)
The Telegraph. 9 November 2009 Paltrow then left the project due to location changes.
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress and former model. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 an ...
was also a rumoured replacement. In September 2010,
Marion Cotillard
Marion Cotillard (; born 30 September 1975) is a French actress, film producer, singer, and environmentalist who is widely known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters in both European and Hollywood productions.
She has received ...
was rumored to be the lead candidate for the role of Gerda Wegener.
On 11 June 2010, ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' 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. In February 2011, ''
Screen Daily
''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company.
The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...
'' reported that the film would begin shooting in July of the same year and that
Rachel Weisz
Rachel Hannah Weisz (; born 7 March 1970 ) is an English actress. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Rachel Weisz, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a BAFTA Award.
We ...
would play Wegener. In May, it was revealed that both Weisz and Hallström had left the project.
On 28 April 2014, it was announced that
Tom Hooper
Thomas George Hooper (born 5 October 1972)''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005''. 5d: 2485. is a British-Australian filmmaker.
Hooper began making short films as a teenager and had his first professional short, ...
would direct the film with
Eddie Redmayne
Edward John David Redmayne (; born 6 January 1982) is an English actor. Known for his roles in biopics and blockbusters, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Tony Award, a BAFTA Award, and two Olivier Awards.
He ...
as the lead. While filming ''
Jupiter Ascending
''Jupiter Ascending'' is a 2015 space opera film written, directed and co-produced by the Wachowskis. Starring Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis with Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne and Douglas Booth in supporting roles, the film is centered on Jupiter J ...
'', Redmayne spoke with
Lana Wachowski
Lana Wachowski (born June 21, 1965, formerly known as Larry Wachowski) and Lilly Wachowski (born December 29, 1967, formerly known as Andy Wachowski) are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans ...
, saying she "told me where to start reading, and where to start educating myself" about Gerda and Lili. On 19 June 2014,
Alicia Vikander
Alicia Amanda Vikander (, ; born 3 October 1988) is a Swedish actress. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Critics' Choice Movie Award, as well as receiving nominations for ...
was announced in the cast. On 8 January 2015,
Matthias Schoenaerts
Matthias Schoenaerts (; ; born 8 December 1977) is a Belgian actor. He made his film debut at the age of 13 in '' Daens'' (1992), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is best known for his roles as Filip in ...
joined the cast.
Filming
Filming was projected to start in Spring 2010 in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. 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.
Filming began in February 2015, and also took place at
Nyhavn
Nyhavn (; New Harbour) is a 17th-century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the harbour front just south of the Royal Playhouse, it is lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 1 ...
, where the iconic waterfront was transformed to look like
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
in the 1930s. Sets for the
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
and Paris flats were built in the
Elstree Studios
Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...
near
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and additional shooting took place in Copenhagen and
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
.
Production on the film concluded on 12 April 2015. Filming took 44 days for the 186 scenes in six countries.
Post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments.
The ...
ended in September 2015. According to composer,
Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat (; born 23 August 1961) is a French film composer and conductor. He has won many awards, including two Academy Awards, for his musical scores to the films ''The Grand Budapest Hotel'' and ''The Shape of Water'', ...
, 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
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
.
Hooper revealed to
Indiewire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
and
After Ellen that the film's ending is different from the novel (in which Gerda and Hans stay together) and real life (Gerda and Lili were not together in Lili's final days), 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 as the loves of each other's lives. He took the script in that direction to protect the importance of their relationship.
In an interview with
MTV International
MTV International, also known as Music Television International and MTVI was the internet-based international version of MTV. The channel was a subsidiary of MTV Networks. The channel was broadcast on MySpace on MTV International's blog, and pow ...
, Vikander revealed that two scenes featuring
Amber Heard
Amber Laura Heard (born April 22, 1986) is an American actress. She had her first leading role in the horror film ''All the Boys Love Mandy Lane'' (2006), and went on to star in films such as '' The Ward'' (2010) and '' Drive Angry'' (2011). S ...
dancing were cut from the film, as well as stating the first cut for the film was over 2 hours.
Release
On 4 March 2015,
Focus Features
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...
set the film for a limited release on 27 November 2015. The film had its world premiere at the
72nd Venice Film Festival
The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition. A restored version of Federico Fellini's film ''Amarcord'' was shown at the ...
on 5 September 2015.
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
handled distribution in other territories outside the U.S., with a release on 1 January 2016, in the United Kingdom.
Home media
The film was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
and
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
on 1 March 2016 in the United States.
Marketing
The first image of Redmayne as Lili Elbe was revealed on 26 February 2015. A pair of posters of Redmayne and Vikander were then released in August, On 1 September 2015, the first
trailer was released. on 19 November 2015, The first clip from the film was released.
Reception
Box office
''The Danish Girl'' has grossed $11.1 million in North America and $53.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $64.2 million, against a budget of $15 million.
The film had a limited release in the United States and Canada across four cinemas in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
on 27 November 2015 before expanding cinemas in December.
The film earned $185,000 in its opening weekend, averaging $46,250, which is the sixth-best opening weekend per cinema average of 2015.
The opening weekend’s audience was 58% female, and 67% were over 40.
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has a rating of 66% based on 244 reviews, with an average rating of 6.60/10. The website's critical 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". On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a score of 66 out of 100, based on 41 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Independent film website FilmDebate credited ''The Danish Girl'' as the 'most important film of 2015', stating that 'This is not only the best movie of the year, but it is the most important. The story and performances come together in the truest of ways to make a film that the whole world needs to see and get behind.'
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". 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
3AW is a talkback radio station based in Melbourne. It broadcasts on 693 kHz AM. It began transmission on 22 February 1932 as Melbourne's fifth commercial radio station.
The station is owned and operated by Nine Entertainment Co.
Hist ...
, and as "revealing, heartbreaking and believable" by Linda Cook of ''
Quad-City Times
The ''Quad-City Times'' is a daily morning newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa, and circulated throughout the Quad Cities metropolitan area ( Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Isla ...
''.
Kyle Buchanan, writing for ''
Vulture
A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...
'', complained that it was part of a trend of "queer and trans films that are actually about straight people", while Paul Byrnes for ''
The Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' said it was "a lost opportunity" in which "the frocks are more convincing than the emotions."
Casey Plett, a transgender writer, criticized the script in a conversation in ''
The Walrus
''The Walrus'' is an independent, non-profit Canadian media organization. It is multi-platform and produces an 8-issue-per-year magazine and online editorial content that includes current affairs, fiction, poetry, and podcasts, a national s ...
'' 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
Robert Lawrence Stine (; born October 8, 1943), sometimes known as Jovial Bob Stine and Eric Affabee, is an American novelist, short story writer, television producer, screenwriter, and executive editor.
Stine has been referred to as the "St ...
with the subtlety of
Brendan Fraser
Brendan James Fraser ( ; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor known for his leading roles in blockbusters, comedies, and dramatic films. Having graduated from the Cornish College of the Arts in 1990, he made his film debut in '' ...
."
Controversy
![Grabstein Lili Elbe](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Grabstein_Lili_Elbe.jpg)
''The Danish Girl'' has been criticized as being written similarly to
forced feminization erotica
Erotica is literature or art that deals substantively with subject matter that is erotic, sexually stimulating or sexually arousing. Some critics regard pornography as a type of erotica, but many consider it to be different. Erotic art may use a ...
, obscuring the actual story of a historical transgender woman, and for being based on a fictional book that does not tell the true story of Elbe and Wegener.
Additionally, it was criticized for casting Redmayne, a cisgender male actor, in a transgender female role. Redmayne acknowledged this criticism in an interview with ''
Indiewire
IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
'' around the time of the film's 2015 release, calling it an "incredibly important discussion". In a 2018 ''
GQ'' interview, Redmayne said he was unsure in retrospect if he should have accepted the role. He stated in 2021 that he regretted it, stating, "I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake. The bigger discussion about the frustrations around casting is because many people don’t have a chair at the table. There must be a leveling, otherwise we are going to carry on having these debates."
Oscar category controversy
Alicia Vikander was awarded the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, the film's only Oscar win out of the four nominations, a decision that the Academy was criticized for as Vikander has about one hour of screen-time, which is 50% of the film's run-time and therefore qualified her for consideration in the
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...
category. The film's distributor
Focus Features
Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in th ...
had campaigned in support of Vikander in the Supporting Actress category, in which many lead actresses have been nominated and won. She was intentionally not shortlisted in the Best Actress category as she would have been competing against
Brie Larson
Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (born October 1, 1989), known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress. Known for her supporting roles in comedies as a teenager, she has since expanded to leading roles in independent films and blockb ...
for her role in ''
Room
In a building or large vehicle, like a ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure that connects it to either a passage (architecture), passageway, another roo ...
'', which would have decreased her chances of winning while the Supporting Actress category had less competition. At both the Golden Globe Awards and the British Academy Awards, Vikander's performance in ''The Danish Girl'' was nominated for Best Actress and she was included in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work in ''
Ex Machina''.
Historical accuracy
* Elbe was not the first transgender woman to undergo sex reassignment surgery, having been preceded by
Dora Richter
Dora "Dorchen" Richter (16 April 1891 – presumed 1933) was the first known person to undergo complete male-to-female gender reassignment surgery. She was one of a number of transgender people in the care of sex-research pioneer Magnus Hirschfel ...
.
* The film is based on the novel ''
The Danish Girl
''The Danish Girl'' is a novel by American writer David Ebershoff, published in 2000 by the Viking Press in the United States and Allen & Unwin in Australia.
Summary
The novel is a fictionalized account of the life of Lili Elbe, one of the fi ...
'' by
David Ebershoff
David Ebershoff is an American writer, editor, and teacher. His debut novel, ''The Danish Girl'', was adapted into an Academy Awards, Academy Award-winning The Danish Girl (film), film of the same name in 2015, while his third novel, ''The 19th ...
, and as such duplicates much of the fictionalized and speculative content of the novel.
Director Tom Hooper stated that the film is closer to the real story than Ebershoff's book.
* Lili and Gerda moved to Paris in 1912, but the film appears to imply they moved to Paris in the late '20s. Paris was remarkably liberal in the 1910s and 1920s, which is the reason why Gerda and Lili settled there and Gerda lived openly as a lesbian in the city.
The scene in which Lili, dressed in men's clothes, is beaten by two men in Paris after being assumed to be a lesbian is fictional.
* Lili's post-transition name was Lili Ilse Elvenes. The name "Lili Elbe", the only name used in the film, was made up by Copenhagen journalist Louise "Loulou" Lassen.
* Gerda divorced from Porta in 1936, did not have children, and never married again. She returned to Denmark, took to drinking, and died penniless in 1940. The character Hans Axgil did not exist in her life and was merely a loose inspiration from Porta, though the real Fernando Porta was not a childhood friend of Einar/Lili. The surname Axgil is a reference to the Danish couple
Axel and Eigil Axgil
Axel Axgil (3 April 1915 – 29 October 2011) and Eigil Axgil (24 April 1922 – 22 September 1995) were Danish gay activists and a longtime couple. They were the first gay couple to enter into a registered partnership in the world following D ...
, the first gay couple ever to enter into a
registered partnership
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...
.
* Elbe died from organ rejection due to a
uterus transplant
A uterine transplant is a surgical procedure whereby a healthy uterus is transplanted into an organism of which the uterus is absent or diseased. As part of normal mammalian sexual reproduction, a diseased or absent uterus does not allow normal em ...
(her fifth operation) in 1931, at the age of 48, but in the film she dies after the second sex reassignment surgery.
Ban
The film was banned by
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...
on grounds of "moral depravity", and also in the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
,
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
,
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
,
Jordan
Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
,
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
, and
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
.
[''The Hollywood Reporter'' 13 January 201]
'The Danish Girl' Pulled From Cinemas in Qatar
/ref>
Accolades
See also
* List of transgender characters in film and television
This is a list of films with transgender people and transgender fictional characters. This does not include documentaries, which are listed on the lists of LGBT-related films by decade or animated characters, which are noted on the List of ...
*
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Danish Girl, The
2015 films
2015 biographical drama films
2015 LGBT-related films
2015 romantic drama films
2010s historical romance films
American biographical drama films
American historical romance films
American LGBT-related films
American romantic drama films
Biographical films about painters
British biographical drama films
British historical romance films
British LGBT-related films
British romantic drama films
Censored films
Cultural depictions of 20th-century painters
Cultural depictions of Lili Elbe
English-language German films
Films about gender
Films based on American novels
Film controversies
LGBT-related controversies in film
Casting controversies in film
Films directed by Tom Hooper
Films featuring a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award-winning performance
Films produced by Eric Fellner
Films produced by Tim Bevan
Films scored by Alexandre Desplat
Films set in the 1920s
Films set in Copenhagen
Films set in Germany
Films set in Paris
Films shot in Brussels
Films shot in London
Films shot in Norway
Focus Features films
Biographical films about LGBT people
LGBT-related romantic drama films
Romance films based on actual events
Films about trans women
Universal Pictures films
Working Title Films films
Films shot at Elstree Film Studios
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
2010s British films