Leading Lady Danny Cohen, BSC reteams with director Tom Hooper to tell the story of transgender pioneer Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl. By Mark Dillon *|* 82 January 2016 A dapted from David Ebershoff 's novel, the feature The Danish Girl presents a fictionalized version of Lili Elbe's remarkable life story. The film opens in Copenhagen in the 1920s, when Lili Elbe is still known as the landscape painter Einar Wegener (played by Eddie Redmayne). Although born with male physical attributes, Einar begins to feel more comfortable dressed and presented as a woman, dubbed "Lili" by ballerina friend Ulla Paulson (Amber Heard). Although Einar's wife and fellow painter, Gerda (Alicia Vikander), initializes this role-play when she asks her husband to pose as a woman for one of her paintings, she is American Cinematographer