By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
In “The Danish Girl,” Eddie Redmayne follows up his Oscar-winning performance as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything” with an amazing transformation, becoming Lili Elbe, the first transgender woman.
While 2015 marked Caitlyn Jenner’s transition and Amazon’s TV’s “Transparent,” along with the Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage, back in 1926 in Denmark, the transgender concept frustrated and bewildered psychiatrists who considered it a perversion.
Which is why when renowned landscape artist Einar Wegener (Redmayne) starts to wear makeup and clothing belonging to his ambitious-but-struggling portrait-painter wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander), Copenhagen’s traditionally tolerant artistic community is stunned.
Married for six years, Einer enjoys a lusty conjugal life with Gerda – until, one day, she asks him to don stockings, tutu and satin slippers to fill in for a missing model. Sensing his delight posing in feminine finery, she suggests he attend a party, masquerading as a cousin named Lili.
What neither of them expect is demure Lili’s amorous attention from Henrik (Ben Whishaw). Then, Gerda’s erotically charged portraits of Lili sell, bringing her the fame and fortune she’s yearned for.
When they move to cosmopolitan Paris, Lili’s experimentation grows more confident, puzzling his boyhood friend/crush, Hans (Matthias Schoenaerts), who develops romantic feelings toward Gerda.
Eventually, Lili turns to an understanding German doctor (Sebastian Koch) who attempts the risky, revolutionary, male-to-female gender-reassignment surgery.
Adapted by Lucinda Coxon from David Ebershoff’s novel, it’s sensitively directed by Tom Hooper (“The King’s Speech”), as Redmayne and Vikander deliver constrained, delicately nuanced characterizations.
FYI: Reportedly, the real Gerda was a lesbian, making the couple’s supportive arrangement more plausible.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Danish Girl” is an astonishing, exquisite 8, chronicling a transgender pioneer.
Perhaps I expected too much. But I was disappointed by Todd Haynes’ tasteful yet tedious “Carol,” an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel, “The Price of Salt,” published under the pseudonym Claire Morgan because Highsmith’s mother disapproved of her daughter’s romantic preference for women.
Since Cate Blanchett is one of our finest actors, it’s Oscar-bait, although I felt her performance in James Vanderbilt’s “Truth” was far superior. And elfin Rooney Mara does her best to replicate Audrey Hepburn’s gamine appeal, so popular in the ‘50s, the era in which this lesbian melodrama is set.
Carol (Blanchett) is a wealthy about-to-be-divorcee who meets salesgirl Therese Belivet (Mara) while shopping for a Christmas gift for her young daughter Rindy. Because the New York department store is out of the doll she wants, Therese recommends a train set, which Carol buys, leaving her expensive leather gloves on the counter.
After Therese mails back the gloves, Carol invites her to visit her elegant New Jersey home. While they eye each other longingly, they’re repressed, maintaining a modest demeanor.
Then, Carol asks Therese, an aspiring photographer, to accompany her on a cross-country trip. Clad in her mink coat, glamorous, gold-haired Carol is exquisite; insipid, indecisive Therese is infatuated.
Eventually, they acknowledge their yearning and physical attraction. Problem is: they exhibit neither sexual chemistry nor emotional rapport. There’s no playfulness, no humor. Only angst – and guilt.
Working with screenwriter Phyllis Nagy, Todd Haynes’ (“Far From Heaven”) slow-paced direction is stylishly restrained, aided immeasurably by cinematographer Ed Lachman and costumer Sandy Powell.
Curiously, the most sensitive, affecting scene is not between the two women. It’s when Carol confronts her bitter, bewildered husband (Kyle Chandler), begging him to put their daughter’s welfare above his vindictiveness in their ongoing custody battle.
On the Granger Gauge, “Carol” is a furtive 5 – overly fetishistic and formalized.
Long before she won an Oscar, Kathryn Bigelow directed “Point Break” (1991), a bank robbery thriller involving California surfers with Keanu Reeves as FBI agent Johnny Utah and Patrick Swayze as the iconic hedonistic surfer/culprit. Its cultish popularity spawned the touring show “Point Break Live!”
This reimagined version is set in the world of extreme sports. Johnny Utah (Australian actor Luke Bracey) is a motocross racer who goes undercover after a personal tragedy for which he feels guilty.
Utah gets embedded with Bodhi (Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez), the ringleader of a mysterious, eco-activist group. They participate in a series of globetrotting extreme-sports Ordeals, known as the mythic Osaki Eight, supposedly devised by an Asian Zen mystic.
“We don’t live off the grid – we live on it, but on our own terms,” meaning they support their lifestyle by robbing the rich to feed the poor, defying death to “honor the earth” in order to achieve Nirvana.
Working from a confusing, underdeveloped, emotionally insipid screenplay by Kurt Wimmer, director Ericson Core concentrates on the spectacle, showcasing visually impressive stunts, noting: “Everything we did was authentic – essentially no greenscreen or C.G.I. work at all.”
Along with surfing on the massive swells off Teahupo’o in Tahiti, there’s wingsuit flying on the Swiss Alps and dizzying free rock- climbing at Angel Falls in Venezuela. Reportedly, the budget reached $105 million, financed by Alcon and China’s DMG Entertainment.
What’s missing is humor, along with homoerotic bromance chemistry between Luke Bracey and Edgar Ramirez and Teresa Palmer’s underwritten love interest Samsara.
On the Granger Gauge, “Point Break” is a disappointing 3 – another pointless remake.
( Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
