This article is inspired by the movie "The Danish Girl."

Have you guys watched the movie, The Danish Girl? If you haven't, I highly recommend you give it a go. It's actually a biographical romantic drama film inspired by the lives of Danish painters and the then couple, Lili Elbe (formerly known as Einar Wegener) and Gerda Wegener.

Anyway, the movie is about a husband, who, after being asked by his wife to pose as a female model for her painting, suddenly had an unexpected turn.

So who is Lili Elbe?

Lili Ilse Elvenes, better known as Lili Elbe, was born as Einar Magnus Andreas Wegener, a Danish painter, who married Gerda Gottlieb, a fellow student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. The two got married in 1904 when Einar was 22 while Gerda was only 19.

Both worked as illustrators. Einar was into landscape painting while Gerda was popular for illustrated books and fashion magazines. However, Lili stopped painting when he started dressing up as a woman.

Einar, aka Lili, was also the second transgender woman to undergo vaginoplasty surgery.

An example of Einar's work as a landscape painter

Lili Elbe by Gerda Gottlieb

Spoiler alert!

So as mentioned above, there was a sudden turn when Gerda, the wife, asked her husband to take a pose as a female for her painting. The model was supposed to be Oola Paulson, who was running late at that time, and so Gerda decided to have her husband model it instead. That was the beginning of an unexpected event that changed the lives of the then couple.

Despite everything, Gerda stayed by his husband's side until his last day. Ooppppsss. Sorry, I didn't mean to spoil you on this part. LOL. Okay, I guess I should stop talking about it to avoid more revelations.

So yeah, I really wanted to share more about the movie, but of course, for the sake of those who haven't seen it, I will behave myself. So if you're curious about the whole story, be sure to add this one as your next must-watched movie this week. Trust me, it's something you would not regret.

Flaws spotted

Okay, so I've just learned now while writing this that there has been some inaccuracy in the movie. Well, it was mentioned in the movie that Einar had undergone two operations: one to remove his male parts entirely and the other one was to construct a vagina.

But according to Wikipedia, there was a series of four operations over a period of two years. The first surgery was for the removal of the testicles. The second was to implant an ovary. The third was to remove his penis and the scrotum. And the last operation was to transplant a uterus and construct a vaginal canal.

No wonder why this film received criticism for omitting certain facts and obscuring the actual story of a historical trans person, as well as for being based on a fictional book rather than telling the true story of Einar and Gerda Wegener.

Closing thoughts

What if you were the wife, would you still stick to his side after learning that he was actually gay? Or what will you do if you suddenly found out that the man you love is actually a woman at heart? Will you still accept him? Will you still love him?

Anyway, if here's the trailer if you guys want to see a sneak peek of The Danish Girl.