Short Takes: Trumbo and The Danish Girl

I saw Trumbo, the new film about blacklisted screenwriter, Communist, and well-known Hollywood liberal, Dalton Trumbo, at the old Magic Lantern Theater in Isla Vista, California, this past Friday. As film biopics go, it was pretty standard fare, recounting the struggles faced by Trumbo and other Hollywood progressives during in the late 1940s and 1950s during the House Un-American Activities Committee's (HUAC) infamous witch hunt. The film takes the screenwriter's POV with an earnest lead performance by Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo. Like other films about this period, including 1976's The Front and 1991's Guilty By Suspicion, Trumbo presents conscientious folks who were ultimately on the right side of history. But these righteously indignant films, as compelling as they are, hardly show the real victims, with the ideals of the protagonist always upheld against great resistance and those who name names presented as wrong, guilty, practically unforgivable.

This portrait of a blacklisted screenwriter seems to have more complex characterizations on its mind, yet the plot takes a well-traveled road. What Trumbo doesn't convey is the terror that existed in Hollywood during those years. At no point in the film is there a strong enough sense of the paranoid fear that undoubtedly permeated the interactions of the Hollywood community in which the story takes place. Bryan Cranston is good as the screenwriter, and his make-up is outstanding, though whether he deserved an Oscar nomination is for you to decide. The film starts without opening credits, and I had forgotten who else was in the film besides Cranston. What I discovered was an exceptional array of talented actors, from the always welcome, still vivacious Diane Lane as Cleo, Trumbo's silently suffering wife; to John Goodman as schlock movie producer, Frank King; Louis CK as Arlen Hird (a composite character); Elle Fanning as Trumbo's daughter, Nikola; Helen Mirren, truly despicable as gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper; and Michael Stuhlbarg as Edward G. Robinson.

Gossip queen Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) and screenwriter
Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) have a chat in Trumbo.

Interestingly, (a fault or virtue of the film, depending on your perspective) I felt more sympathy for Edward G. Robinson in a scene where Trumbo visits him (spoiler alert) after serving prison time for contempt of court. Robinson, who had been a somewhat sympathetic HUAC witness, states that he didn't have the luxury of other writers fronting for him; he only has his face. He goes on to talk about how he can't change how his career has dictated his actions, and how he has a family to feed and a lifestyle he has acclimated to and doesn't want to lose. All of this is what Robinson understands about himself after being unemployed for more than a year due to initial refusal to cooperate with HUAC. I, for one, would like to see that movie - one about a man would knows he has to sell out his beliefs, doesn't want to, but does in order to survive. It wouldn't necessarily be as noble, but it would be a compelling depiction of complex characters in a complicated time.

Rating **1/2 of ****

Another film with a not-so-different story to tell is Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl, an adaptation of David Ebershoff's novel about real-life Danish artist, Einar Wegener, who became one of the first people known to undergo sex reassignment surgery in the 1930. The story focuses on the relationship between Einar and his wife, Gerda, and the challenges they face when Einar expresses his discomfort with his gender identity.

Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) sits for his artist wife, Gerda
(Alicia Vikander), in an early scene in The Danish Girl

What begins as an apparent game between the two in which Einar begins to secretly wear Gerda's clothes beneath his own escalates as Einar more fully acknowledges his identity as a woman (which Einar and Gerda call Lili). Though well acted by all, for me the film's stand-out performance is Alicia Vikander as Gerda. Vikander paints a masterful portrait of a woman who loves her husband so much she is able to let him embrace his (her) true identity, even while she knows that it will end her marriage. Vikander's performance is so effective I was more wrapped up in her struggle to embrace her husband's identity than in Einar's struggle to accept his identity as a woman (indeed, I have read several reviews that have stated similar perspectives).

Eddie Redmayne is effective as Einar/Lili, subtly conveying the struggle of a person whose male body does not match her female gender. Unfortunately, I really didn't get a sense of this conflict from Redmayne's performance except for one scene in which Einar is alone and breaks down in tears. The film's conflict rests more with Gerda's acceptance of Einar's transition. I'm not certain of The Danish Girl's intent, but without question, it succeeds as a story of how the emotional aspect of the marriage bond is just as profound as the physical one. 

Rating *** of ****

Having now seen two of the five Best Actor Oscar nominees, I would have to say I wouldn't vote for either if I had a say in the Oscar race. Though both are good, I don't consider either to be outstanding enough to win the gold man. In the coming weeks I hope to see The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio, Joy with Jennifer Lawrence, and Carol with Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. I will comment on these as I see them.