In mid-1920s Copenhagen, portrait artist
Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) asks her husband, popular landscape artistEinar
Wegener (Eddie Redmayne), to stand in for a female model who is late to come to
their flat to pose for a painting she's working on.
The act of posing as a female figure
unmasks Einar's lifelong identification as a woman, who named herself Lili
Elbe. This sets off a progression, first tentative and then irreversible, of
leaving behind the identity as Einar, which she has struggled to maintain all
her life. This takes place as both Lili and Gerda relocate to Paris; Gerda's
portraits of Lili in her feminine state attract serious attention from art
dealers in a way that her previous portraiture had not. It is there that Gerda
tracks down art dealer Hans Axgil (Matthias Schoenaerts), a childhood friend of
Lili (whom Einar/Lili had kissed when they were young). Hans and Gerda's mutual
attraction is a challenge, as Gerda is navigating her changing relationship to
Lili; but Hans' long-time friendship with and affection for Lili cause him to
be supportive of both Lili and Gerda.
As Einar's/Lili's continued existence
presenting as male becomes too much to bear, she starts to seek help from
psychologists, but none yields any result, and, in one instance, almost leads
her into being committed to an asylum. Eventually, at Hans's recommendation,
Lili and Gerda meet Dr. Kurt Warnekros (Sebastian Koch). Dr. Warnekros explains
that he has met several people like Lili, who are physically male but identify
as female, and proposes a new, innovative and controversial solution: male to
female sex reassignment surgery. This would entail a two-part procedure that
involves first removing Lili's external genitalia and then, after a period of
recovery, fashioning a vagina. He warns them that it is a very dangerous
operation that has never been attempted before, and Lili would be one of the
first to undergo it. Lili immediately agrees and, soon after, travels to
Germany to begin the surgery. Unfortunately, her eagerness to shed the vestiges
of the male anatomy leads her to rush the sequence of procedures, and Lili
eventually dies of complications from the surgery. The movie ends with Gerda
and Hans on a hilltop back in Denmark, in front of the five trees Lili had
painted. The scarf that Lili had originally given Gerda, and that had
subsequently been given back and forth several times, is carried away on the
wind, dancing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Danish_Girl_(film)
Who:portrait artist Gerda Wegener and her husband, popular landscape artistEinar Wegener.
When:In mid-1920s.
Where:Copenhagen.
What: stand in for a female model who is late to come to their flat to pose for a painting she's working on.
Key words:
Progression 進展
Tentative 試驗性的，嘗試的；暫時性的
Irreversible 不可逆的；不能翻轉的；不能取消的；不能倒置的
Relocate
將…重新安置
Portraiture 肖像畫；塑像
Asylum 收容所，救濟院；精神病院
Reassignment
變性手術
External
genitalia 外生殖器
