The Danish Girl

If you want a drama that takes its characters as seriously as its plot, The Danish Girl is available on streaming right now. The runtime earns every minute, with nothing here that feels like padding. 5,967 people have weighed in on TMDB, and the verdict leans heavily positive. Eddie Redmayne's performance alone is worth the time investment. Start it whenever you need something guaranteed to land.

Whatever else is competing for your attention this week, The Danish Girl is worth clearing space for. The writing in The Danish Girl treats its characters as people first, plot devices second. When Gerda Wegener asks her husband Einar to fill in as a portrait model, Einar discovers the person she's meant to be and begins living her life as Lili Elbe. Having realized her true self and with Gerda's love and support, Lili embarks on a groundbreaking journey as a transgender pioneer. Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2015. The writing trusts the audience to sit with ambiguity rather than wrapping everything up in a tidy conclusion — it is the approach that separates good drama from great. It rarely drops the ball, and when it does, it recovers fast.

The Danish Girl is what you recommend to people who say they do not really watch much. It rewards viewers regardless of what else is in their watch history. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Eddie Redmayne is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record. The patience it asks of you early on is paid back with interest.