Redmayne is at his finest in the midsection, as Einar’s attempts to honor Gerda’s wishes and remove the escalating confusion from their marriage prove futile. Despite Henrik getting lumped with some on-the-nose dialogue concerning a conveniently placed oak tree (“They say you can eat its acorns and become anyone you want”), the drama in general acquires more teeth from this point on. The shift occurs when Lili, as Einar’s emerging true self has been playfully dubbed by Ulla, gets a nosebleed after being kissed at a party by persistent suitor Henrik ( Ben Whishaw), a transgression witnessed by the previously unflappable Gerda.

But even if Gerda’s initial encouragement of Einar’s cross-dressing is accurately depicted as a bohemian game, it’s more than a half-hour before even a glimmer of conflict creeps into what seems at first like a frisky romp.

There’s plenty of obvious foreshadowing, such as Redmayne distractedly running his fingers over fur and tulle in the wardrobe racks at the ballet. It’s in this early action hammering the point of the Wegeners‘ rapturously happy marriage that Hooper’s grasp and Coxon’s writing are most uninteresting. Gerda also finds new inspiration, and the resulting sketches and paintings capture the attention of a previously indifferent art dealer. He obligingly dons stockings and jeweled slippers, responding with evident pleasure to the tactile sensation of silk and satin against his skin. That changes when, fresh from a stinging rejection, Gerda asks Einar to stand in for her absent model, their glamorous ballerina friend Ulla ( Amber Heard). Read more ‘Suffragette’: Telluride Review He’s an in-demand landscape painter, while she’s struggling to gain a foothold in the art market with her undistinguished portraits. release.Īdapted by Lucinda Coxon from American novelist David Ebershoff‘s partly fictionalized account of Elbe’s life, published in 2000, the film begins in Copenhagen in 1926, six years after Wegener’s marriage to Gerda ( Alicia Vikander).

As will Focus Features’ inevitable awards push around the Nov. Leaving aside complaints in the LGBTQ community about the lack of authenticity or courage in having a cisgender actor portray transgender experience, the film’s reluctance to shock or offend will no doubt boost its appeal for middlebrow art house audiences. 'Awards Chatter' Podcast - Alicia Vikander ('Firebrand' and 'Irma Vep')

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