The Danish Girl

Tom Hooper has failed to hang on to the status of a clear favorite. After the accessible The King's Speech and all the overflowing emotions of Les Misérables, yet another story is told of a man requiring a sympathetic posture to understand him. Yet this time it fails because it is told all too clumsily. It lacks lightness and, above all, the element of surprise, as every plot twist can be seen long in advance. Often, it doesn't matter, because Alicia Vikander plays like her life depends on it and Eddie Redmayne fascinates with every (albeit again perhaps too specific and almost disruptive) gesture. As a whole, however, The Danish Girl speaks a language that doesn't tell me anything new. (2016-02-03)

It's nice that a transgender being can take festival-goers to Copenhagen, Paris, and Dresden in the 1920s and they don't even protest. The lead roles are godlike, and I had no doubts about the set design. In addition, excellent are also the supporting roles (Sebastian Koch as Magnus Hirschfeld) and especially the emphasis on the work of Gerda Wegener, for whom I don't know whether I prefer the Art Nouveau or Art Deco period. (2016-02-02)

The worst possible way to capture the biography of an unconventional person is to make it precisely this conventional and conservative. The slow cinematography, the haunting music, and the precise actors are dragged in a soul-destroying way through two hours without any drama and you guess the plot despite having no idea about the person in question until now. Somehow you guess that the wife had to go through the hardest dilemma, but her inner struggle is done with one tear on a bench in the rain - it’s very cheesy, just like the rest of the film. (2016-02-07)

Beyond the ethereal acting performances, the movie didn’t really surprise me with anything. And it wasn’t supposed to. I don’t understand the topic and it’s hard for me even get into it a little bit. On the other hand, I admit that Eddie Redmayne is an incredible actor; just as incredible as Alicia Vikander is beautiful. And since I like European movies, I appreciated actors such as Matthias Schoenaerts and Sebastian Koch, who have taken the quality to the absolute top. (2016-02-15)

From the first mention, The Danish Girl was a clear favourite for a film that would see more than one Oscar nomination, no doubt about it. In the end, it is a skillfully made biographical drama with appealing visuals and a subtle musical score, all dominated by a particularly gripping premise and very convincing performances by the two leads. Eddie Redmayne's somewhat androgynous appearance adds to the level of authenticity of his character, while Alicia Vikander relies on a realistic portrayal of a woman whose husband believes she is a woman trapped in a man's body. The film depicts the incredible story of two people who love each other deeply, even if it's more about mental support than physical attraction. (2016-02-08)