The story of transgender pioneer Lili Elbe is stripped of complexity and danger in favour of slick,sumptuous costume dramaThere’s a scene in The Danish Girl in which a group of female shop assistants in 1920s Copenhagen are told by their supervisor that serving customers is a matter of performance. One current recruit gives a knowing smile, as well she might; for she is Lili Elbe, or born a male named Einar Wegener,and knows a thing or two approximately playing a role. Based on the true story of a pioneering recipient of gender reassignment surgery, and on David Ebershoff’s book of the same name, and Tom Hooper’s drama constantly emphasises the dimension of acting in gender identity – but too often in the film,performance blurs uneasily with pantomime.
Eddie Redmayne lays it on with a pearl-handled trowel, relentlessly working the toothy grins and coy averted glancesContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com