This film has had surprisingly bad reviews on the whole. Personally I thought it was an incredibly powerful and timely film. With the publicity surrounding Caitlin Jenner’s gender transition last year and the rise in our knowledge and understanding of the transgender process the film comes at the right time. It is not an easy film to watch, but that is to be expected. Set in 1920’s Copenhagen and Paris it is a true story about the first transgender operation and boasts very fine central performances from both Eddie Redmayne as the transgender artist Einer Wegener and from Alicia Vikander as his artist wife.
The two of them capture perfectly the intimacy of a happy marriage and as the story progresses and Lili emerges, clumsily at first, we feel their pain. It is a beautiful film in which their love for each other shines through, despite the sadness and trauma they both experience. A costume drama almost, but there are so many exquisite layers and it is an impressively deep film. The actors are phenomenal. Eddie is a surprisingly good choice for the role as an imperfect female (despite his excessive girly blinking) and their separate pain is palpable as he slowly loses sight of Einer, the male landscape painter and Lili quietly emerges more forcefully each time. He successfully sweeps us along on a terrible journey that no one should have to go through, having to deal with doctors who believe he is schizophrenic, perverted, insane. We are right there with them as they struggle to find a way to get through it all and his wife’s support is essential but heart-wrenching to watch.
The fear they both feel towards the end is beautifully portrayed both individually and as a united pair and it is rare to feel such a force of emotion from an acting pair.
What a long way we have come and I’m sure this film will do even more to help us understand how difficult it must be to be stuck inside the wrong body.
