The Controversy of “The Danish Girl” & its Cast’s Emotional Performances

Before seeing this I didn’t know who Lili Elbe or Gerda Wegener were. I didn’t know who received the first sex reassignment surgery. I didn’t know a lot of things. But after seeing the film I wanted to learn more about these people’s lives. Thanks, by the way, Wikipedia!

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve gathered that it’s possible Lili was intersex, Gerda might have been a lesbian or bisexual, and Lili went through about four surgeries before she died. And Gerda wasn’t overshadowed by her spouse’s artistic success like in the film.

The movie is based on the book of the same name by David Ebershoff which is a fictional story inspired by Lili Elbe’s life. So no, this is not a very historically accurate movie. But it’s still important.

I never really thought about it before. It didn’t affect me personally. Whenever I’ve seen a trans character in a movie, they’re usually played by a cis actor. But I didn’t even know what “cis” meant until recently. (For the record, it means someone who identifies as the sex they were born as.) This movie, a couple shows I watch, and a few things I’ve researched on the internet over the past year got me thinking about representation in media and gender and all this stuff.

Eddie Redmayne being cast as Lili is a controversial thing. I know there must be hundreds of trans actors out there that could’ve gotten this part. I definitely see why people think trans characters should always be portrayed by trans actors. That being said, I still don’t know exactly where I stand on this. It’s new to me.

I think the movie was very well cast. I understand representation is important and if you have someone who already has experience in this area, they’ll be able to handle the part. I don’t know how I’d feel if I were trans (probably different), but right now I think it was a good choice.

Plus, if they had decided to cast a trans actor, who knows how difficult it would have been to schedule everything around them if they were transitioning at the time. It might have just been easier to not have to worry that their main character would look too feminine too quickly. It would’ve been great if they had cast a trans woman for the part, though.

Because the Oscar winner is in this movie, more people will have interest in it. More people were exposed to this story because of his popularity. Not only that, his performance is absolutely stunning. It’s no wonder he was nominated for an Oscar again because of this role.

I’ve seen a lot of his interviews and a few of his films. Going into this I thought I’d just see Eddie or Newt or maybe Marius pretending to be a woman. But he completely transforms. I found myself thinking only female pronouns whenever he was in a scene. (And, on an unrelated note, I don’t know if it’s fair that he’s a beautiful woman and an attractive man.)

I’m very grateful Eddie Redmayne did so much research for this part. It’s clear to me he has a respect and understanding of the transgender community when I see his interviews concerning this film. I think they represented Lili very well but I will admit I’ll never truly know how transgender people think about this. And that is what’s important.

Alicia Vikander as Gerda was also fantastic. Though Gerda wasn’t my favorite, I could see she was a complicated person. Alicia Vikander showed all of her layers perfectly. I could feel everyone’s pain and confusion throughout the film. All of their performances were a big selling point for me.

The relationship between Lili and Gerda is the main focus of this movie, and knowing a little about the real story, it is kind of disappointing. It does feel like it was made a certain way to have more of an appeal toward the cisgender viewers. The characterization of Gerda was a bit of a problem for me. I’m fairly sure Gerda and Lili had a better relationship in real life and they only separated because two women couldn’t legally be together in the 1920’s. If that’s incorrect, please let me know.

The scenes later on in the film were confusing to me. They seemed to be in love, they seemed to more or less support each other. Then they were talking about when Lili will marry again. But at the end, we get a scene with them where Lili asks how she earned Gerda’s love. (By the way, I’m pretty sure they made Gerda either straight or very…in denial. Or both, in a way. I know her sexuality was something that was glossed over in the book too.) I understand the troubles they went through and the things they struggled with as a couple, but the way they moved apart wasn’t what I thought it would be.

The messages I expected to get from this movie were something along the lines of “be yourself” and “love unconditionally”. But neither of them really did the latter. Especially Gerda. They are both very confused, I know, but still.

Even so, I felt such an emotional impact from this movie. I’ve cried about it twice or three times after seeing it. I’ve realized things about myself because of watching this. I sobbed multiple time during my viewing. I shed happy tears at the line “I am completely myself” after Lili’s surgery and I was devastated at the end. It was all beautifully done. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a great story based on the life of an outstanding human being with a pretty great cast.

We can discuss more in the comments if you want! Thanks for reading. Please share this with your friends. 🙂