Art and love overcomes struggle

Oscar Nominee Eddie Redmayne as Lilli in ‘The Danish Girl.’

MIAC photo

Oscar Nominee Eddie Redmayne as Lilli in ‘The Danish Girl.’

Rachel Sobina, Staff writer

‘The Danish Girl’ is an incredibly inspiring movie about two artists, Gerda and Einar Wegener, who spend most of their time painting together.
The movie takes place in the 1920s in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The movie begins with the two of them attending an art show together and receiving different critiques on their pieces.
Gerda Wegener starts a new work of art the next morning. She specializes in still-life portraits whereas Einar Wegener produces beautiful landscapes.
While Gerda is painting, Einar decides to go for a walk in the town.
When Einar returns home, Gerda’s subject has still not arrived for her painting, so she asks Einar to put on a pair of stockings and pose for a picture.
As she begins to paint, her subject, Ulla, played by Amber Heard, arrives and is astonished and delighted to see Einar posing for her.
The next evening, there is a big event that Gerda and Einar were invited to attend.
However, Einar decides that he does not want to attend as Einar, but rather as the girl he felt that he was born to be in order to see the reactions to his art from a different perspective.
He creates a clever disguise and so Einar dresses up and disguises himself as a girl named Lilli.
While at the event, a young man takes interest in Lilli. Much to her shock, Gerda finds Lilli and this young man outside of the party, kissing.
Gerda and Lilli (Einar) return home in a confused state about the entire situation regarding what happened that night after the party.
As the movie progresses, Einar becomes more and more confused about his gender and there is a constant sense of turmoil and despair.
2016 Oscar Nominees Eddie Redmayne as Einar/Lilli, and Alicia Vikander as Gerda, Lilli’s wife.
This is a remarkable love story which is inspired by the lives of Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener. Their real life story revolves around the evolution of their marriage as they navigate Lili’s amazing and whirlwind journey as a transgender pioneer for the community.
The “The Danish Girl” plays in Taylor Little Theatre at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 21.
Tickets are $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, students and military.
Tickets are $1 for Mercyhurst students as long as they present their ID.
For tickets, or more information, call 814-824-3000 or visit miac.mercyhurst.edu.