The Danish Girl Page #4

---

GERDA:

Wondering when you got so pretty.

EINAR:

Oh, I was always pretty, you just never

noticed.

Gerda LAUGHS, keeps working.

INT. WIDOW HOUSE, STUDIO, A WEEK LATER

In the studio, Einar looks at the sketches Gerda has made of

him, darkly fascinated. He hears Gerda come in.

(CONTINUED)

26/11/15

18.

CONTINUED:

GERDA (O.S.)

Hello...?

EINAR:

In here...

Gerda comes in, puts down her workbag, takes off her coat.

Einar’s still looking at the sketches. Gerda’s a little self-

conscious...

EINAR (cont’d)

These are good.

GERDA:

Do you think?

He nods, absolutely serious. Gerda absorbs this, gratified.

GERDA (cont’d)

Well thank you. Thank you.

Gerda goes out to hang up her coat, calls -

GERDA (cont’d)

I had coffee with Ulla. She asked

about the Artists’ Ball.

Einar draws breath to protest, but:

GERDA (cont’d)

Don’t worry - I told her no.

EINAR:

You should go, you enjoy it.

GERDA:

With you I enjoy it.

Einar feels guilty.

EINAR:

Look - it’s good to be seen at those

things. I understand that.

GERDA:

And that’s why you hate them.

Gerda shrugs - she gets it. He smiles.

EINAR:

I feel as though I’m performing myself.

GERDA:

Giving them your Einar Wegener.

Exactly. Gerda looks at him a moment.

(CONTINUED)

26/11/15

19.

CONTINUED:

GERDA (cont’d)

Why not give them something different, go

as someone else?

She tilts her head. A look between them... this is a

departure... Einar hesitates a moment...

EINAR:

Did you have someone in particular in mind?

A mischievous smile spreads across Gerda’s face... she starts

to laugh, Einar begins to understand... laughs along...

EINAR (cont’d)

No - that’s outrageous!

GERDA:

You’d be very convincing... You might even

enjoy it...

Einar marvels at her... she’s only half-joking.

INT. WIDOW HOUSE, BEDROOM, EVENING

Gerda sweeps a layer of foundation over Einar’s face. When

she’s done, he opens his eyes. Gerda’s taken aback.

GERDA:

You’ll have to shave closer.

Einar takes in his blanked-out face in the shaving mirror.

Gerda goes to apply eyeliner...

GERDA (cont’d)

Close your eyes... This is hard on someone

else...

EINAR:

Here...

Einar takes the crayon, draws a couple of pretty good lines.

EINAR (cont’d)

How’s that?

She marvels at his reflection. It’s bizarrely compelling.

GERDA:

Better than I ever manage.

His reflection looks back. Gerda’s energy is up... She

drapes her scarf around his neck...

GERDA (cont’d)

Oh, Lili! I want to sketch you...

(CONTINUED)

26/11/15

20.

CONTINUED:

She hurries him through to the studio... arranges cushions on

the chaise.

GERDA (cont’d)

Sit!

Einar sits - a distinctive pose.

EINAR:

Come on, Hvap!

Hvappe jumps onto his lap. Gerda sketches quickly, absorbed,

excited. She rearranges him, ‘feminising’ his poses.

GERDA:

Knee over... head up.. Look at

those hands... relax...

We see Einar at a series of angles... but his movements are

more and more parodically feminine for Gerda’s entertainment.

The more he acts it, the more fun it is, until finally Gerda

scolds, still laughing:

GERDA (cont’d)

No, don’t make her a slut!

EINAR:

It’s your fault, you excite her.

Gerda gets close to pin him still. His face closes on hers.

GERDA:

Why, Miss Lili, you are forward...

EINAR:

You have no idea...

He falls on her, laughing, passionate... Gerda responds, but

grabs a cloth and wipes his made-up face as he kisses her.

MONTAGE BEGINS:

INT. WIDOW HOUSE, BEDROOM

We see Gerda’s work around the room, now, depicting ‘Lili’s’

progress. Einar, at the mirror, plucks his eyebrows to better

resemble the glamorous arch in Gerda’s sketches.

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE WIDOW HOUSE

Einar and Gerda walk, a little way apart. He feels his way

into her gait, she checks back on his progress.

26/11/15

21.

EXT. HARBOUR, FISH STALL, DAY

As Gerda buys fish, Einar is distracted, observing and

copying the movements of the female customer beside him...

INT. OPERA HOUSE, STAGE DOOR

Gerda and Einar arrive. The stage doorman nods.

EINAR:

43 Morning, Thorbjorn... 43

STAGE DOORMAN:

Good morning.

INT. OPERA HOUSE, COSTUME SHOP, DAY

Gerda and Einar try on wigs, surreptitious, excited, adjust

one another’s choices. Then, a long line of almost identical

shoes, beginning in tiny sizes but gradually getting bigger.

Einar grabs the last - biggest - pair. When he looks up,

Gerda’s showing him a dress...

INT. OPERA HOUSE, STAGE DOOR, DAY

Einar and Gerda head out past the stage doorman, very pleased

with themselves. Gerda is several sizes fatter and taller -

she wears a wig with a hat on top. Hands stuffed into coat

pockets hide bulky shoes. Thorbjorn looks up briefly from

his newspaper. Then as the door closes behind Einar and

Gerda, he looks up again - ?

- MONTAGE ENDS

INT. WIDOW HOUSE, EVENING

The Lili sketches depict a gamut of moods, face and posture

already becoming iconic. Einar in the slip and the new

shoes, practising his walk to settle his nerves. Hears the

front door open - quickly calls:

EINAR:

I wondered where you were, it’s getting

late.

Gerda comes in...

GERDA:

We have plenty of time. I bought these...

Einar takes the stockings with interest. Gerda watches,

entertained at his enthusiasm, but a little apprehensive..

(CONTINUED)

26/11/15

22.

CONTINUED:

GERDA (cont’d)

Einar, are you sure about tonight?

Einar looks up, surprised. Nods, without hesitation.

Gerda’s a little taken aback at his enthusiasm.

EXT. STREET NEAR CANAL, NEAR ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, NIGHT

Dancing light and sound - up ahead, we see a glamorous,

eclectic gathering: the fun-loving, the arrogant, the

eccentric, the bourgeois -all rubbing shoulders on their

way to the Royal Academy.

Two pairs of women’s feet in step: Gerda and Einar, approach

the melee. Then Gerda realises Einar has slowed, dropped

back behind her. She turns to see him transformed in a

chiffon dress with a linen sailor’s collar and cuffs...

GERDA:

What is it...?

Einar’s eyes shine animated. He cuts an ungainly figure, but

the impression is more confusing than jarring.

EINAR:

Am I pretty enough?

Gerda’s surprised by the sincerity of the question.

GERDA:

Of course you are...

He takes Gerda’s hand and she pulls closer.

EINAR:

I’ll never be as pretty as you.

Gerda studies the features, the fire behind the eyes. An

intensity she had not been expecting... something new... A

charged moment... Gerda’s genuinely moved... but then

Einar/Lili laughs, breaks away... leaving Gerda with a beat

of emotion that doesn’t belong anywhere.

INT. ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, STAIRCASE, NIGHT

Gerda and ‘Lili’ mingle with the crowd. A VOICE rings out:

ULLA:

My darling!

A flicker of fear in Lili... until Gerda interposes herself:

GERDA:

Ulla, let me introduce...

(CONTINUED)

26/11/15

23.

CONTINUED:

Ulla’s eyes snag for a moment as they search the familiar

face and realisation dawns. Delight floods her face. Then:

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote