Taglines: Find the courage to be yourself.
In mid-1920s Copenhagen, portrait artist Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) asks her husband, popular landscape artist Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne), to stand in for a female model who was late to come to their flat to pose for a painting she’s working on.
The act of Einar posing as a female figure unmasks his lifelong identification as a woman, whom he has named Lili Elbe. This sets off a progression, first tentative and then irreversible, of leaving behind the identity as Einar, which Lili has struggled to maintain all her life. This takes place as both Lili and Gerda relocate to Paris; Gerda’s portraits of Lili in her feminine state attract serious attention from art dealers in a way that her previous portraiture had not.
It is there that Gerda tracks down art dealer Hans Axgil (Matthias Schoenaerts), a childhood friend of Einar (Hans had been the first boy who had ever kissed Lili). Hans and Gerda’s mutual attraction is a challenge, as she is navigating her changing relationship to Lili, but Hans’ longtime friendship with and affection for Lili cause him to be supportive of both Lili and Gerda.
The Danish Girl tells the true story of Danish artists Einar Wegener and his wife Gerda, played by Alicia Vikander. This tender portrait of a marriage asks: What do you do when someone you love wants to change? It starts with a question, a simple favor asked of a husband by his wife on an afternoon chilled by the Baltic wind.
Her portrait model has canceled, and would he mind slipping into a pair of women’s shoes and stockings for a few moments so she can finish the painting on time. “Of course,” he answers. “Anything at all.” With that, one of the most passionate and unusual love stories of the twentieth century begins. The Danish Girl is directed by Oscar winner Tom Hooper, from a screenplay written by Lucinda Coxon.
The Danish Girl is a 2015 romantic drama film directed by Tom Hooper, based on the 2000 fictional novel of the same name by David Ebershoff, and loosely inspired by the lives of Danish painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery, Alicia Vikander as Wegener, and Sebastian Koch as Kurt Warnekros, with Ben Whishaw, Amber Heard, and Matthias Schoenaerts in supporting roles.
The film was screened in the main competition section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, and it was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in a limited release on 27 November 2015 by Focus Features in the United States. The film was released on 1 January 2016, in the United Kingdom, with Universal Pictures International handling international distribution.
The film received some criticism for its inaccurate portrayal of historical events, but Redmayne and Vikander’s performances received widespread acclaim and nominations for all of the major acting awards. Vikander won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and Redmayne was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. It was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
The Danish Girl has grossed $11.1 million in North America and $53.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $64.2 million, against a budget of $15 million. The film had a limited release in the United States and Canada across four cinemas in New York and Los Angeles on 27 November 2015 before expanding cinemas in December. The film earned $185,000 in its opening weekend, averaging $46,250, which is the sixth-best opening weekend per cinema average of 2015. The opening weekend’s audience was 58% female, and 67% were over 40.
The Danish Girl
Directed by: Tom Hooper
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Amber Heard, Eddie Redmayne, Matthias Schoenaerts, Ben Whishaw, Emerald Fennell, Rebecca Root, Jeanne Abraham, Ida Emilie Krarup, Maya Lindh
Screenplay by: Lucinda Coxon
Production Design by: Eve Stewart
Cinematography by: Danny Cohen
Film Editing by: Melanie Oliver
Costume Design by: Paco Delgado
Art Direction by: Grant Armstrong, Tom Weaving
Music by: Alexandre Desplat
MPAA Rating: R for some sexuality and full nudity.
Studio: Focus Features
Release Date: November 27, 2015
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