The Danish Girl

     Everybody should  see "The Danish Girl" at least once.

    I've seen this movie twice already, and if it stays in the theaters another week I'll probably go see it again.                                         

"The Danish Girl" is first and foremost  the telling of the  love story between Lile Elbe, the first transgender woman to undergo sex reassignment surgery, and her wife, artist Gerda Wegener. 

The role of Einar/Lile is wonderfully played by Eddie Redmayne, while Gerda is played, equally wonderfully, by Alicia Vikander.

      The story, with its beautiful scenery and music, is set in the 1920's and follows the journey  of acclaimed Danish artist Einar Wegener,

,,,as she discovers herself and, supported by her wife's strength and love, transitions from man to woman. 
      But the "Danish Girl" is Gerda's story as well, because it's Einar's transformation to Lile that brings about Gerda's transformation as an artist;  Gerda brings Lile to life, and Lile brings Gerda's artistic inspiration, and subsequently her career, to life.

      And yet there's loss and pain for both Lile and Gerda in the trade-off each makes to live her life as herself.  Still their love transcends the loss and pain and runs deeper than gender or orientation. 

      But there's more to "The Danish Girl" than the love story, which is why I say everybody should see the movie.   The film presents a real ambiguity, not so much in the relationship, but in the physical attraction between Gerda and Einar and Gerda and Lile; Einar is attracted, or behaves as if he were attracted, to Gerda when he's a man, but can no longer sustain that physical attraction as a woman.  Gerda, on the other hand, seems equally attracted to Einar/Lile as a man or as a woman and yet realizes that she can only have this person as Einar, and so wants this person to keep part of herself alive as Einar.  
     The film critics interpreted the lack of clarity in the attraction between and feelings of these two characters as a weakness in the film, but I believe it was a strength, as in real life we humans are complex and can experience all sorts of ambiguity of attraction and feeling and, as we're learning, even gender and sexual orientation can be fluid in a person.  Do you always feel and think as a man is supposed to feel and think?  Or as a woman is supposed to feel and think?  Do any of us, when we look into our souls, really know exactly who or what we are?