The Danish Girl

Eddie Redmayne followef up his Oscar-winning turn as astrophysicist Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything with another amazing transformation and Oscar nomination—becoming Lili Elbe, the first transgender woman. The year 2015 witnessed the Supreme Court's landmark legalization of same-sex marriage, Caitlyn Jenner's transgender transition, and the huge success of Amazon's Transparent TV series. Back in 1926 in Denmark, however, the transgender idea frustrated and bewildered psychiatrists, who labeled it perversion. When renowned landscape artist Einar Wegener (Redmayne) starts to wear makeup and clothing belonging to his ambitious-but-struggling portrait-painter wife Gerda (Oscar nominee Alicia Vikander), Copenhagen's traditionally tolerant artistic community is taken aback. Married for six years, Einar enjoys a lusty conjugal life with Gerda—until, one day, she asks him to don stockings, tutu, and satin slippers to fill in for a missing model. Sensing his delight in posing in feminine finery, she suggests Einar attend a party, masquerading as a cousin named Lili. What neither of them expects is that demure Lili will attract amorous attention. And then Gerda's erotically charged portraits of Lili sell, bringing Gerda fame and fortune. When the couple move to cosmopolitan Paris, Lili grows more confident with experimentation, puzzling his boyhood friend/crush (Matthias Schoenaerts), who develops romantic feelings toward Gerda. Eventually, Lili turns to an understanding German doctor (Sebastian Koch) who will attempt risky and revolutionary gender-reassignment surgery. Adapted from David Ebershoff's titular 2000 novel, and sensitively directed by Tom Hooper, this is highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “making-of” featurette (12 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are bonus digital and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for this excellent bio-pic.] (S. Granger)