fiLmReviEw
THE DANISH GIRL
[2015, UK, USA, BELGIUM - English]

Tom Hooper directed one of my all time favourite drama films The King's Speech, which won Best Picture at both the Oscars and British Academy Film Awards in 2011. Along with it the forty-three year-old English director helmed two other successful films, sports drama The Damned United (2009) and musical epic Les Misérables (2012). Interestingly the idea to film The Danish Girl began before all that, where Hooper came upon Lucinda Coxon's adapted screenplay of a historical novel about the true story of trans woman Lili Elbe's painful transition and her heart-wrenching love story with her wife, painter Gerda Wegener. The plan was placed on the back burner due to funding difficulties, mainly because of the taboo subject. Seven Academy Awards and big box office numbers later, Hooper finally rekindled his passion project and cast Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander to bring the extraordinary love story to life. Though the selection of Redmayne was initially met with backlash (that a cisgender was playing the transgender role), the Les Miz star took the challenge and gave everyone nothing lesser than a doozy of performance.

Set in the late 1920s, the film opens with a brief glimpse into the lives of painters Einar Wegener (Redmayne) and Gerda, both nestled in their happy marriage. When the female subject of her portrait art bails on her, Gerda convinces her husband to help her complete the painting. She slips a pair of stockings on his legs, and makes him pose for her with a gown placed on him. A pivotal moment in the film, where we witness a parallel development of Gerda’s discovery of her new muse (her husband modelling for her dressed as a fictitious female model named Lili) that finally helps lift her painting career, and the unearthing of Einar’s true identity. Whilst Gerda plays along, even partly amused with her husband’s newfound kink, Einar’s life whirlwinds into a conflicting and confounding transformation.

Redmayne embodies the look and emotions of Einar-Lili like a suit and glove. As Einar continues to be enthralled in his transition, Gerda finds herself caught in an equally gripping journey. Vikander’s performance is thoroughly moving, bubbling with restrained emotions, as she pushes herself to accept, forgive and even stand by to support her husband’s plight. They both soon come to a juncture where they realize there isn’t room enough for both Einar and Lili, where Einar must make a life-threatening choice, whilst Gerda must decide where she stands in this whole entanglement.

Granted, the whole approach by director Hooper on this delicate subject and the film’s trajectory is rather conventional, but you can’t help but be hypnotized with the picture-perfect filming and setting. A visual feast, from the cinematography right up to each costume and close-up of Redmayne’s entrancing expression. I just wished there could’ve been heavier emphasis on Einar’s intricate dilemma. If Hooper would’ve taken us just a few steps closer into the agonizing development of Lili, the devastation in foreboding his bleak future given his sexual identity crisis, it would have perhaps cemented a more convincing momentum to the story. Gerda’s sacrifice and surrender end up becoming the bigger focus and throughline that really moved the audience, instead of feeling how torn apart Einar-Lili’s emotions are. It would’ve been perfect if we were left equally shattered by both their stories.

Rating: A-

#TheDanishGirl #TheDanishGirlFilm #TomHooper#EddieRedmayne #AliciaVikander #LiliElbe#GerdaWegener #Transgender #TransgenderFilms#LesMisérables #FilmReview #MovieReview#EnglishFilms #Drama

THE DANISH GIRL'S JOURNEY

It’s hard to imagine that this film was once considered a “commercial poison” and producer Gail Mutrux had to patiently seek a glint of hope for the right people and attraction to bring it to the silver screens. Taking a decade to be finally produced from the time screenwriter Lucinda Coxon started working on it, The Danish Girl had been circulating among numerous filmmakers and actors, and had a fair share of drop-outs including Charlize Theron, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rachel Weisz. All three were initially slated to play the role of Gerda Wegener, the wife of Lili Elbe who supported him in his journey to be one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery. In fact, finding the right actor to play Elbe proved to be even much harder. Nicole Kidman at some point in 2008 signed on to produce and play Elbe, that too didn’t pan out. Then finally in that same year during the filming of a battle sequence in Les Misérables, director Tom Hooper handed a large unmarked envelope to Eddie Redmayne and calmly said, “Read it.”

"I knew the script had a long, tortured history," Redmayne shares on his experience, “But it's a wonderful love story. It reframed my notion of love, that love is not about gender or bodies. It's about souls. The minute I read it, I wanted to do it – I wanted to make it right away, right after Les Mis." But Hooper told him to calm down as it would take time, and it took three years before he actually signed on officially to The Danish Girl. "It was a very vulnerable feeling," the Oscar-winning actor shares on his extreme transformative role. "You're being judged wherever you go by crew and castmembers. You're scrutinized. People think actors are always wanting to take their clothes off for the camera, like, 'I'm ready to get naked!’ But it's not true. It was as uncomfortable an experience for me as it would be for anybody." In one particular scene, Redmayne stands naked in front of a full-length mirror, his genitalia tucked between his thighs.

#TheDanishGirl #TomHooper #EddieRedmayne#CharlizeTheron #GwynethPaltrow #RachelWeisz#NicoleKidman #LesMisérables #Films #Movies#LiliElbe #GerdaWegener #Oscars

OSCAR MOMENTS - Eddie Redmayne

"Thank you. Thank you. I don’t think I’m capable of articulating quite how I feel right now. I’m fully aware that I am a lucky, lucky man. This Oscar belongs to all of those people around the world battling ALS. It belongs to one exceptional family – Stephen, Jane and the Hawking children. I will be his custodian. I will be at his beck and call. I wait on him hand and foot. Thank you to Hannah, my wife. I love you – we have a new fella coming to share our apartment"

- Eddie Redmayne, receiving his first Oscar for his performance in The Theory Of Everything. His critical acclaimed portrayal of Stephen Hawking has also won him the Golden Globe, SAG & BAFTA awards

#eddieRedmayne #oscars #oscars2015 #bestActor #theTheoryOfEverything #filmAwards #moovieGab #SAG #BAFTA #goldenGlobes #stephenHawking #ALS

OSCAR GAB - Actor In A Leading Role

with julienne moore, JK Simmons & patricia arquette's names more or less engraved on the other 3 trophies before the award seasons started, this year's oscar suspense for the acting categories was basically left depending on the race for best actor.

first off, my take on the lesser-deserving nominations - steve carell & bradley cooper. much of the amusement rilled up about carell's performance in "foxcatcher" to me lies more so on his prosthetic nose, make up & obscured facial expressions which give him a subdued, mysterious & peculiar persona. oscar unfortunately has a weakness for "major transformational" roles in the past, whether every nod was fully worthy remained questionable to me. cooper on the other hand had the opportunity to portray the riveting & distressed chris kyle, the deadliest sniper in US history. there was however nothing particularly strong about his performance. he beefed up (putting on 40 pounds) for the role, still playing a rather ego-heavy &  masculine character which is kind of consistent in many of his previous works, mumbled his way throughout in a thick texan accent. was his acting gripping? it was adequate, but definitely not stunning enough to be oscar-worthy. having said that, i'm probably the only one not raving about cooper in clint eastwood's "american sniper", and we all know he has been one of the academy's favorites in recent years. 

next, who did i predict as the higher probable winner - michael keaton or eddie redmayne. keaton would've probably won every audience's vote for the most entertaining role, having to infuse anger, desperation, bitterness, melancholy, comedy & insanity all in a single story in "birdman". he's been long loved for his roles in "night shift" (1982), beetlejuice (1988) & "batman" (1989 & 1992); "birdman" was hailed as his comeback role, it's his 1st oscar nomination & probably the last chance to win one for this hexagenerian.

latest brit invasion in hollywood, redmayne earned raves for pulling off one of the most challenging & bravest roles in “the theory of everything”. it may be his 1st leading role but for his portrayal as renowned physicist stephen hawking, the 33 year-old committed 4 months to prepare himself, reconfiguring his body with a choreographer’s help to capture hawking at each specific stage of his decades-long battle with ALS. bearing in mind, at least half the time in the film redmayne was subjected to limited means of expression and movement, being wheelchair bound & speaking through a computerized voice, and yet he manages to transmit hawking’s struggle, drive, joy & wit in precision. from the twitching & muscle decay, the awkward walk to the tilting neck, redmayne nailed the part. watching the film, hawking in fact had been reported saying that there were moments when he thought it was himself he was seeing on screen.

coming to the last nominee, and my choice for the win – benedict cumberbatch. everything about the film “the imitation game” dices in both ways, and that is precisely what i love about it. the tale of the mathematician alan turing who broke the german enigma code during world war II is both aching yet inspiring. the same goes with cumberbatch’s portrayal of the genius, imbuing turing in a nuanced but gripping performance. his character is unattuned to the feelings of others, but manages to win our sympathy as he can also be endearing. he will come across as arrogant & egoistic, yet we will be shedding tears for this awkward wiz when he gets prosecuted for his sexuality. all these are achieved only with cumberbatch’s enthralling performance 

shouldn't win - steve carell & bradley cooper

should win - benedict cumberbatch 

predicted will win - michael keaton or eddie redmayne 

won - eddie redmayne 

snubbed from nomination - jake gyllenhaal for "nightcrawler"

#oscar #bestActor #eddieRedmayne #steveCarell #bradleyCooper #michaelKeaton #benedictCumberbatch #theTheoryOfEverything #theImitationGame #foxcatcher #americanSniper #birdman #jakeGyllenhaal #nightcrawler

CELEB QUOTE - Eddie Redmayne

"there were so many levels of anxiety - you're playing someone that people know, he's also an icon, he's also living, he's a scientist of extraordinary talent..i'm not really a method actor, and i'm normally quite good at jumping into next things, but also it had been a weird year. when i did 'jupiter ascending', the film before this, i'd had to get all buff, and then the second that finished i had to start losing weight for 'the theory of everything'. it's a weird thing, but you sort of begin to lose track of who you are"

- eddie redmayne, on his portrayal of stephen hawking in "the theory of everything"

#eddieRedmayne #celebQuotes #celebs #theTheoryOfEverything #stephenHawking #jupiterAscending #oscars #movies #drama

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING - Moving Tale Of Stephen Hawking

thumbsUp-watch > THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING [2014, UK - English]

- nigh on perfect in his role, redmayne "twists" himself into his hawking character; effective portrayal 

- the journey of how one man propels his way through a difficult life, by constantly pushing both his mental & physical state further apart - uplifting

- film however hits too many moments in the attempt of its heart-warming message, would've been perfect if several major ones are dwelled upon more deeply instead

"there should be no boundaries to human endeavor. we are all different. however bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. while there's life, there is hope" - stephen hawking

RATING : A-

#theTheoryOfEverything #movie #movieReview #eddieRedmayne #stephenHawking #biopic #films #filmReview #drama