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Plot Summary
Copenhagen 1926,
There was a couple who had been married for 6 years. They were painters. The husband, Einar, was a landscape painter, while his wife, Gerda, was a portrait painter. One day, Einar felt strange while posing as a woman model for his wife’s painting. Einar then started dressing women’s clothes and pretended to be a girl at his wife’s portrait exhibition in Paris. In Paris, there was a man trying to flirt Lily – a fake name for Einar as a woman. Day by day, Einar felt that he’s more Lily than himself. Gerda also found her husband not a man as she had known. She tried many ways to get her husband back, including looking for Einar’s childhood boy friend to whom Einar gave his first kiss. It didn’t work because Einar’s old friend, Hans was not a homosexual. In fact, he was straight and was fond of Gerda after he met Gerda. Gerda tried to resist her desire for Hans. Einar, now completely changed to Lily, tried to have some surgeries to be herself with a doctor’s help. Gerda also helped Lily to do what Lily wanted. The first surgery which was removing Lily’s male organ went on succesfully. The second one which was creating a vagina for her, however, was failed. Lily died. In the final scene, Lily’s scarf was seen floating in the sky, above a landscape that Einar once painted.
What’s in it for me?
Although the story’s main character is Einar, aka Lily, I like Gerda – the wife in this story. Honestly, I admire her so much. There must be a true love for her husband so that she can suffer all the way, sacrifice her marriage to help her husband live a life as a woman. She knows she’ll lose her husband forever, but she lets him go for love. It is different from a situation in which she looses her husband because he cheats on her or because he passes away. There is a moment she almost lets herself fall in love with Hans, her husband’s childhood friend. He’s truly a gentleman. But she resists her desire (sexual and mental) to not to cheat on her husband. She deserves more than that, I believe.
To me, the last scene in which a scarf floating in the vast sky as Gerda says to Hans, “Let it go” is the most beautiful scene. It symbolizes a fact that Lily is free.
This film also shows me the courage of a person to be “herself”. LGBT community is recognized by many developed countries in the 21st century, but elsewhere around the world, especially in Asian countries and developing countries, people still have to hide their true genders. This is a big thorn in modern society. All people are born equal, but because of culture and religion, LGBT people has been suffering inequality. To be honest, when I was young, I had a strange feeling about gay people, I thought they were sick and tried to stay away from them. I changed my mind after having some gay friends. I realized people are not sick because they are gay. Don’t judge people before you really know them.
Who’s in the movie?
Director:
Tom Hooper, who won Oscar for Best Achievement in Directing The King’s Speech (2010). He’s also known for directing Les Misérable (2012).
Stars:
Eddie Redmayne as Einar/Lily. Eddie Redmayne won Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role with The Theory of Everything (2014). He was also nominated an Oscar for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role with The Danish Girl. Eddie Redmayne is known for roles in The Theory of Everything (2014), Les Misérable (2012), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007).
Alicia Vikander as Gerda. Alicia Vikander won Oscar for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in this film.
Ratings
People like this movie should watch
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Milk (2008)
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