The Danish Girl (2015)

User Review

• 

  Barneyonmovies

  6 / 10

  WHAT I LIKED: 'The Danish Girl' tells the fascinating true story of the world's first transgender man, and first and foremost what makes the film is that that immediately serves as a very powerful narrative. It unlocks the examinations of identity and loyalty within relationships, and it naturally brings a pretty crucial bit of history to the masses. But on top of that, what really makes things work is that at the forefront of the drama is the very convincing Eddie Redmayne and the ever-brilliant Alicia Vikander - both of whom work together to showcase the tragedy and confusion at the heart of everything. They're two great performances, and they carry this hugely important story on their shoulders.
  WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The execution of the filmmaking has an extremely dream-like, ethereal, sensual quality, and whilst that works to some extent to explore the sensitivities of the narrative, there's only so many times we can watch the characters sigh gently into the middle distance of an empty, opulent, pastel-shaded room before things go a little overboard. That wouldn't necessarily be a problem if the script wasn't so clunky, but the dialogue here only adds to the lack of real grounding.
  VERDICT: A powerful story buoyed by two compelling central performances, 'The Danish Girl,' is only let down by its relentlessly whimsical execution.

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