A fictitious love story loosely inspired by the lives of Danish artists Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer.
Copenhagen, Denmark, 1926. Einar Wegener (played by Eddie Redmayne) and his wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander) are a happily married couple. Both are artists, Einar preferring landscapes and she portraits. One day Einar poses for a portrait of Gerda's while wearing a dress. This is initially done as a lark, as is the later attendance at a party dressed as a woman. However, Einar soon discovers that she is in fact a woman and over time prefers being Lili. At first she and Gerda try to have her situation "cured" but this leads nowhere (other than to many doctors trying to have Lili locked up as a pervert and/or lunatic). Her voyage of self-discovery will ultimately lead to her undergoing the first ever sex-change operation.Written by
grantss
Lili's post-transition name was Lili Ilse Elvenes. The name "Lili Elbe" was made up by Copenhagen journalist, Louise (Loulou) Lassen, and is first used in sensationalist Danish newspaper articles as pre-publicity for the publication of the book From Male to Female - Lili Elbe's Confessions (Fra Mand til Kvinde - Lili Elbe Bekendelser) where many of the myths and inaccuracies about Elvenes' life story begin. See more »
Goofs
When Lili meets Henrik for the first time at the dance, Henrik invites Lili to leave. When they are standing at the top of the stairs, Henrik reaches out and takes Lili's right hand to escort her down the stairs. When the shot cuts and returns and they begin to descend, Henrik is holding Lili's left hand. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
American Woman:
Don't you wish you could paint like that? Oh, I'm sorry? I said, don't you wish you could paint like your husband? Really. You must be so proud of him. So elegant.
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Crazy Credits
Eddie Redmayne as credited as Lili in final credits, probably respecting the trans identity. He actually plays 2 characters Einar Wegener and Lili Elbe. See more »
Fails to stop the viewer losing all interest around 30 minutes in. Perhaps it was the deadpan and expressionless wife, the binary emotions of the husband or the disconnected story - but a tale that should have impacted considerably more considering the subject matter - doesn't come close.
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Fails to stop the viewer losing all interest around 30 minutes in. Perhaps it was the deadpan and expressionless wife, the binary emotions of the husband or the disconnected story - but a tale that should have impacted considerably more considering the subject matter - doesn't come close.