With 8 new movies opening this week and we wanting to see 6 of them, due to showing schedule and our afternoon plans we decided to see the 11 AM screening of "The Danish Girl".

Very little is known by the public about what a transgender person lives with and goes through. Recently, because of Caitlayn Jenner and recent shows based around transgender people, the public is becoming more aware of the subject. In 1999 Hilary Swank won a Best Actress award for her role in "Boy Don't Cry" as a girl who transgendered to a man and  in 2005 Felicity Huffman was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar in "TransAmerica" as a man transgendering to a woman.

Einar Wegener, played by Eddie Redmayne, was one of the first men to transition to a woman, in this case, Lili Elbe, in this based on a true story written about in "Man Into Woman" in 1933. Einar is helped, understood and cared for by his wife Gerder, played by Alicia Vikander. In more ways than one she aids Einer become Lili not really understanding what he is going through just as he really doesn't and the doctors he goes to don't. 

Both were well known Danish painters with Einar famous for landscapes while Gerder would become more famous for her paintings of 'Lili'. As a young couple they were very much in love with an active sex life but the more Einar became Lili their relationship in all ways changed.

Having been married for over 20 years the relationships between Einar, Lili with Gerder and hers with both is sort of given short shift in understanding what happens in cases like this.

As Redmayne proved last year in his role as Stephen Hawking and as Marius in "Les Miserables", winning an Oscar for the former, he can completely immerse himself in a role but here he seems to be all poses and uses scarves as a co-star.

Alicia Vikander appeared in 6 films this year particularly recieving a lot of attention as artificial intelligence Ava in "Ex Machina". Her role here seems underwritten and she is sort of given short shift regarding the feelings she is suppose to be undergoing.

Amber Heard as a friend of Einer and Gerder and who gives Lili her name, Sebastion Koch as the pioneering doctor, Ben Henrik as Lili's first suitor and Matthias Schoenaerts as a boyhood friend and the first crush of Einar are all good supporting performers though the latter is put in the position of a possible lover for Gerder which doesn't ring true.

"The Danish Girl" is an interesting film but doesn't deliver. There is also the problem of some important--at least they may be important--lines are very soft spoken to the point many people in the audience ask, "What did they say?", and it isn't the fault of the theatre's sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d88APYIGkjk