The Danish Girl 2015

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: A well-told, well-acted, well-photographed period piece. Read more

Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter: Eddie Redmayne is able to shed his own persona to go undercover into the lives of people facing extreme physical and emotional challenges. Read more

Lindsey Bahr, Associated Press: The Danish Girl looks like a dream and is about as elusive as one too. What is there can suffice, educate and provoke interest and conversation, but ultimately, it's hard not to want more. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Eddie Redmayne has triumphed again with another remarkable performance as one of the world's first transsexuals Read more

Sara Stewart, New York Post: One of the year's finest films. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Regardless of how you feel about the subject matter, The Danish Girl is an overwhelming act of heroism for Eddie Redmayne. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Destined to be the year's most talked-about arthouse phenomenon. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: There's a lot stewing here-perhaps more than Hooper's upscale, designer-eclectic direction can pick through. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: "The Danish Girl" is beautifully shot and tastefully made and acted, but only Vikander seems willing to take chances. Happily, she does. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Hooper makes coffee-table cinema, and "The Danish Girl" is his latest volume. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Hooper's staid treatment hardly complements the subject matter, and the stuffy tone is only exacerbated by Redmayne's drippy performance. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: If the movie remains safe, there's no questioning its integrity, or the balance of porcelain vulnerability and strength that Eddie Redmayne brings to the lead role. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It frankly takes a while to unpack its themes and gain our interest, but it finally allows us to unmistakably experience the powerful drives that motivate the action. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: The great mystery of the script: Why does The Danish Girl pretend to cheer Lili's courage while changing the facts to make her seem selfish? Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Hooper's film is a master class in how to tiptoe through the mines. It swoons from a surfeit of good taste. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: As warm and honest as Redmayne's work in this movie is, Vikander is what truly makes it live. Read more

Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News: By diving deep to convey an aching heart and soul, Redmayne drives "The Danish Girl" under our skin. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Mr. Hooper's tasteful, earnest, didactic style - magnified by Alexandre Desplat's decorously overwrought score - does the film no favors. And the asymmetry between the central performances doesn't help, either. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It looks lovely in an art-directed way, and Eddie Redmayne, who won his Oscar earlier in the year for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, looks lovely, too. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Watching The Danish Girl, it's possible to get some feeling for the deep sense of self-alienation a transgendered person can experience but the movie's aloof tone creates distance between the viewer and the lead characters. Read more

Christy Lemire, RogerEbert.com: Tasteful and restrained to a fault. It is easier to admire than love. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: You can't take your eyes off Redmayne as a pioneer in gender reassignment surgery. And Vikander does wonders as a wife who stands by her woman. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Only Vikander's performance elevates it above its pretty surface. Her Gerda tells us a story of a woman desperately in love with a man who's vanished, but whose eyes still gaze at her. Read more

David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle: Hooper's strategy of keeping it safe is bound to bring in folks who might otherwise avoid such material. For the rest of us, we must settle for a film that is solid, but never quite soars. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: In the early days of Einar's transformation, Redmayne conveys the degree to which gender is, for all of us, a skill acquired through observation and imitation. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: It is well honed, engaging and accessible, stocked with handsome period piece images of life a century ago, unfailingly mature. And a bit wearisome. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Only when the camera is on Vikander does the film transcend its artifice. In one of the year's best performances, she imbues Gerda with such poignancy and grace that Redmayne all but fades into the background. Read more

David Sims, The Atlantic: The Danish Girl is telling an important story, but it does so by following the blueprint of a thousand biopics that have come before. Read more

Kate Taylor, Globe and Mail: A sweet and inoffensive drama located in a pretty art deco past that makes the experience of transgender people palatable to a mainstream audience. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Redmayne's transformation to a female self requires some bravery on the part of the actor. That makes up for the shortcomings in Lucinda Coxon's script and the movie's nagging sense of disconnection from its audience. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Tom Hooper proves he's capable of making a movie that's both steeped in awards-season prestige and in possession of a pulse. Read more

Dave Calhoun, Time Out: The film is so tasteful that you might barely realise the story involves a man having his penis surgically removed at a time when such a thing was barely known or possible. Read more

Brian Truitt, USA Today: Watching Redmayne's character blossom into her true self is remarkable, and the awkwardness getting there only helps make it more relatable to audiences who might not be on board with the subject matter initially. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: The film... is beautifully visualized and steadfastly interesting, yet I kept wondering why I didn't feel more involved in it. Read more

Elaine Teng, The New Republic: Redmayne was director Tom Hooper's first choice for the role and it's not difficult to see why: As Lili, Eddie Redmayne is beautiful. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: "The Danish Girl" is a very pretty picture that could have used a more probing, maybe even more painful, palette knife. Read more