Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) is a portraitist in Copenhagen. As a lark, she helps her husband (Eddie Redmayne) transform into an alter ego named Lili for a party. Lili seizes the chance for freedom and begins pursuing surgical options to have her physical body changed to match her conception of herself. Gerda is supportive but struggles to hold on as Lili distances herself from all aspects of her deadname.
I get that this was attempting to be sympathetic and sensitive. But it ultimately relegates Lili into being a side character in her own story. **SPOILER** I don't know if it technically falls under the Kill Your Gays trope because Lili does get a version of happiness, but she does die in the film, so I can see how it would be triggering for people. **END SPOILER** The best parts of this movie are the costumes. They are incredibly sumptuous. The rest is gloomy and glacially paced.
This is based on a real person, Lili Elbe, whose journals were turned into a book in 1933. Elbe was one of the very first people to receive gender confirming surgery, an extremely dangerous and experimental procedure at the time. Her medical records were destroyed in the Allied bombing of Dresden, which is an unfortunate loss to history. Other historical records of her contemporaries were destroyed by the Nazis.
Trans men are men. Trans women are women. Full stop. Let people be who they want to be. There is a current rise in transphobia and stochastic terror directed at the LGBT+ community and a concurrent rise in fascism. Don't be on the wrong side.
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