A beautifully tragic and heartwarming story of one of the first people to undergo gender reassignment surgery in the 1920s the film The Danish Girl tells a tale of a married man . The story twists, turns, and loops around the lives of Gerda Wegener and Einar Wegener, who have been happily married, living in Copenhagen in the late 1920’s. The couple are painters who primarily work on portraits and landscapes.Eventually Gerda asks her husband to model as a female, sparking the stories plot. Einar is the misunderstood male who is trapped within himself, and can never escape until becoming fully the person in his dreams, Lili.
Einar, now known as Lili, embraces the new side of himself and continues to dress as Lili, angering Gerda who had thought it was just a game at first, until realizing this was the life her husband wanted. Lili is more than a game to Einar, she is him in every way. Gerda comes to terms with the fact she never married Einar, but Lili, who kept herself hidden away within the body of a struggling male. Einar and Gerda are the couple that most likely nobody could ever understand, because their love for one each other crosses gender and intimate contact. They love each other because of their common interests and similar minds, not because of their bodies or appearances.
The movie inspired thousands of people, including an anonymous SLVHS who quoted, “The Danish Girl is an incredibly opening movie, and watching it made me more inspired to become publicly open about myself.” Lili and her story were emotional, inspiring, and powerful tools to use and apply to those who are afraid to be openly out. The Danish girl drills in the fact that you aren’t alone, and the ones who love you most will be with you no matter the change.
Although given harsh reviews, The Danish Girl is a truly engaging and artistically advanced movie that brought a little bit of pain and back story to the transgender community. Einar is not only the first man to undergo sex-change, but the first man to ever have a wife who understands and loves him for more than just his physical health, but his mental health as well. The couple is forced to face the most drastic of changes and tasks, but push through it as though it was meant to happen to them.
By Emily Carlton
The Claw 