Cert 15
120 mins
BBFC advice: Contains sexualised scenes
Such is my devotion to the early stages of the 2016 everyfilm cause that I am sitting in Derby Quad writing my thoughts on The Danish Girl immediately after watching it and before bursting into the screening of Joy.
Last year, I became hopelessly behind with my reviews and so they took much longer to write because I had to try to piece them together.
Here I am still listening to the credits being played out before given my instant, if qualified, approval for Eddie Redmayne's remarkable portrayal of Lily Elbe in Tom Hooper's drama.
The Danish Girl is the true story of the transgender pioneer who was the first to undergo a sex-change operation.
It sees the transformation of painter Einar Wegener into Lily with the fragile but loving support of his wife, Gerda, (Alicia Vikander).
The journey is as intense as any could be, pulling hard at the deep love which had held the couple together.
Redmayne becomes his subject just as he did during The Theory Of Everything. His mannerisms are completely convincing. He is a truly remarkable actor and could well win a second consecutive Oscar.
But Danish Girl would not be as good a film as it is without Vikander. She has had a startling couple of years with roles as diverse as those in Ex-Machina, The Testament Of Youth, The Man From U.N.C.L.E and now this.
They are also backed up by an impressive cast, including the seemingly omnipresent Ben Whishaw, Matthias Schoenaerts and Amber Heard
However, despite these eulogies, I felt that the Danish Girl, while exceptionally well directed and photographed, lacked enough umph to guarantee it a place in my movies of 2016 come next December.
I suspect romantics will be more impressed but there were just too many scenes of heartbreak for my liking.
Nevertheless, the quality of the performances means that discerning film fans should definitely give it a go.
Star Tweet - writer David Ebershoff
- Congratulations Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander, Alexandre Desplat and the entire @danishgirlmov team on 3 @goldenglobes nominations
David Ebershoff Reasons to watch: The brilliant performance of Eddie Redmayne
Reasons to avoid: Too many scenes of heartbreak
Laughs: one chuckle
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: yes
Overall rating: 8.5/10