There’s already a lot of interest in The Danish Girl, which looks set to catch the zeitgeist and the interest in transgender people and issues that has been growing in the public consciousness over the last couple of years. It certainly feels like the right time for a film about a trans* person to find mainstream success.
In The Danish Girl, Eddie Redmayne stars as Lili Elbe, who became one of the first women to undergo sex-reassignment surgery way back in the early 1930s.
Here’s the official synopsis: ‘Based on the book by David Ebershoff, The Danish Girl is the remarkable love story inspired by the lives of Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener (portrayed by Academy Award winner Eddie Redmayne [The Theory of Everything] and Alicia Vikander [Ex Machina]), and directed by Academy Award winner Tom Hooper (The Kings Speech, Les Misérables). Lili and Gerdas marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lilis groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.’
That doesn’t give a lot of detail, but at film will chart the journey of the person who started out as Danish painter Einar Wegener (Redmayne), and his wife, Gerda. In 1931 Einar is thought to have become the first person in the world to have a sex-change operation, when she became Lili. Its believed the journey started at least openly after Gerda asked Einar to stand in for a female subject that Gerda was supposed to paint. The painting became incredibly popular and Lili began to express who she truly was.
The movie will hit UK cinemas on New Years Day 2016, which will ensure it’s ripe for a major awards run.