Director: Tom Hooper
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 2.0
Married painters Einar (Eddie Redmayne) and Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) start having relationship problems when Einar discovers he identifies as a woman (new name: Lili) instead of a man, going so far as to be one of the first people in history to undergo operations to physically become a woman (unfortunately, these operations were unsuccessful). Though the Internet Movie Database listing notes it's "a fictitious love story," changing details from actual documented facts for the writer's purposes actually undercuts the truth and reality of things: Gerda's possible lesbianism is omitted and the fact that the relationship was completely destroyed and that Gerda later remarried is kept out. In twisting the tale, screenwriter Lucinda Coxon - working from David Ebershoff's novel - takes the lazy route of having medical personnel use terms like "insane" and "perversion" (booo!) while Redmayne's tortured soul writhes in agony, includes one 'beat-up-the-sissy' scene (boooo!) and concludes on a shot involving Einar/Lili's floating scarf ... representing 'freedom' (symbolism!). Vikander's glowing and warm performance does deserve special mention: between this and Ex Machina, 2015 was a breakout year for her.
