The Danish Girl

[junipertree2]

Was watching tv the other night and happened to see the 2015 film 'The Danish Girl.'

I wasn't aware of Einar Wegener/Lili Elbe until now, so have come to this topic blind. I'm not aware of any liberties the writers of the film may have taken with the real story as I haven't read Elbe's diaries/memoir.

I am aware that this film got criticised a lot, firstly for having a non-trans male actor play a trans woman, and secondly for its resemblance to 'forced feminisation erotica.'

The trans rights debate has obviously exploded in the five years since the film was made. What do other mumsnetters make of this movie?

What did you think about the film OP?

I saw it ages ago. I felt it was a story about a person's very particular journey and struggle, which is easy to empathise with. And beautifully portrayed by Eddie Redmayne. The film doesn't really speak to trans rights vs women's rights issues especially I don't think. But I may be misremembering.

Watched it a good few years ago now. I felt it was a depiction of AGP. I had no sympathy for the Eddie Redmayne character as he became subsumed with the idea of himself as a woman.

I was also annoyed at the misrepresentation of Vejle Fjord as being in a mountainous region - but I guess if a man can be a woman a few hills can become a mountain range.

DH and I use the in joke of ‘Lilly’s here now’ when we don’t fancy engaging with the other person about their achievements and changing the mood of the evening

I had a lot of sympathy for the wife in it to be honest, because everything in her life was consumed by the need to be ‘Lily’ .

Interesting story. But I don’t like Eddie Redmayne much.

*consumed by Einer’s need that should say.

I saw this film when it came out, way before gender ideology had the grip on society that it has now. Even then I clearly remember thinking it very odd that for the main character, "becoming a woman" mostly meant fluttering "her" eyelashes, blushing and speaking in a very very quiet voice. It was already obvious to me that the whole thing was based on sexist nonsense and on the whole concept of "woman" as seen through a male lens. Little did I know then that this would become the norm in my sadly defunct LGB community.

I remember feeling surprised that it was so popular at the time, I didn't think the script was very good. In Redmayne's character's mind the whole concept of womanhood was reduced to a few simpering hand gestures.

However, I thought the scene where his character is working with actual women and he really didn't understand them or get on with them was quite well observed.

Well you really don’t want to see The Assignment... I was all the way through.

I went to see it when it came out with an open mind. Was bored stiff and irritated in equal parts. The fact they gave up on their art and worked in a shop selling perfume lost my sympathy.
Also I noticed a lot of working class unglamourous women in the background which kind off underlined the sexist AGP aspect. Definately a man's fantasy.

The book was good. But I didn't feel sympathy for the husband transitioning, I felt for the wife!

I haven’t seen it: were the working class women there to signal how odd the main character’s idea of womanhood was or to show that he was doing it better?

I remember being utterly underwhelmed by the film and quite irritated that the desire to be a woman consisted of looking at ones arms and hands and floating them about prettily. I also felt the delusion of the male character presenting themselves as Lilly in company and seemingly thinking that they were “passing” was cringeworthy. The need to bring everyone else in on the fantasy looked like straight-up AGP.

Finally I heard Eddy Redmayne being interviewed about the part and smugly talking about how much he’d learned from “cis-women” in set and that also gave me the rage.

Glad I'm not alone in being underwhelmed then!

I found it a downright insulting portrayal of 'womanhood' and Lily's constant head-tilting made me want to throw something at the TV. And of course the loyal wife - not unsympathetically portrayed but handmaidenly nonetheless.

I'm not surprised that many trans activists dislike the film because it does underline the many fetishistic aspects of trans-identification.

It was a waste of the time used viewing it. Whatshisface Eddie Redmayne came across as both simple but with a sense of cunning when portraying the character. It was offensive if he thought he was in character as a woman.

I couldn’t watch it

I found the acting fairly unbearable

I saw it at the cinema before I became aware of transgender issues.
I found I couldn't get past fact I was watching Eddie Redmayne in a dress. I remember remarking to my fras we left how the coy posturing in front of a mididnr represent my experience of being a woman.
I felt sorry for the wife in the story, and despite the sad ending I mostly felt irritated with the main character.

mirror

Jeez apologies for the typos

I thought it was very good, extremely insightful and moving. It was also well acted. Good actors have always played characters completely unlike their real selves. To find a trans actor who was really convincing in that particular role might have been difficult.

I think it's awful to celebrate this person, the damage inflicted on his wife and the casual way the woman whose uterus was used as a transplant is air brushed out of the story is horrific. Elbe also had an ovary implanted onto their abdominal musculature ffs. If this story has to be told it should be told in a far different way than it is.

As a trans widow I found it very triggering. Especially the part where Einar puts on a dress and stockings and sort of caresses his own legs, staring at them.

Interesting. No, the attempts to implant female organs aren't portrayed in the movie at all.

I read a bit about Elbe today and apparently he was intersex, or strongly believed to be. He also left his wife for a man. The homosexuality is only lightly alluded to in the film, and in fact he reacts with revulsion when a doctor tells him he is homosexual.

So what we basically have is a true story of an individual with a DSD who experiences same sex attraction appropriated by a film maker to deliver an odd little tale of a straight, XY man dressing and presenting as a woman while still maintaining a loving relationship with his loyal and understanding wife.

A cynical person might say that there is an agenda at work here...

Sorry, @Zeev, I hadn't read your post before I posted. I am very sorry that you have also experienced this.

I didn't see it because I saw the trailer and it really pissed me off, because it showed him wearing a dress to pose for a portrait and then getting all ooh, lovely silky dress, ooh it feels nice and that was meant to be the start of the realisation that he was A Woman. Even though it was before all the current extremism and I hadn't heard the term GC at the time, it REALLY annoyed me that he thought liking silky dresses made him female, when plenty of women don't like them and plenty of men do. Loads of men have worked as stylists, fashion designers, costumiers etc and indulged their interest in fashion and textiles, lots of men have been flamboyantly camp, and also some men are into cross-dressing for sexual reasons. None of this makes them women.

And I can see if I'd watched it I'd have been more annoyed if there was simpering and head-tilting as further proof of womanliness, Arghhh.

I am sorry for his wife and also for him to be fair, since he died from the effects of attempted sex-change surgery. Why anyone would celebrate this instead of seeing it as a clear early example of how dangerous SRS can be is a mystery.

And also how exactly is a trans actor meant to play someone who is shown "before and after" any better than a non-trans actor? The role depicts both trans and not (or pre-) trans so either way there has to be some part of it where they are not the "right" actor and are pretending (it's called acting...)