In one scene in “The Danish Girl,” due in theaters Friday, Nov. 27, the 1920s Danish artist Gerda Wegener (Alicia Vikander) gazes intensely at her canvas as she paints a portrait of a nude woman stretched out languidly in a classical pose.

将于11月27日星期五上映的《丹麦女孩》(The Danish Girl)中有这样一幕，20世纪20年代的丹麦艺术家格尔达·魏格纳（Gerda Wegener，艾丽西亚·维坎德[Alicia Vikander]饰）为一个慵懒地伸展身体，摆出古典式姿态的裸女作画，她死死凝视着面前的画布。

The beautiful model is Gerda’s artist husband, Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne), who has just started stepping out in public as a woman, to be known later as Lili Elbe. Erotically charged, the painting is ahead of its time, as were the real-life subjects of the film, Wegener and Elbe, one of the earliest patients to undergo sex reassignment surgery, in 1930.

这位美丽的模特正是格尔达的艺术家丈夫埃纳尔·魏格纳（Einar Wegener，埃迪·雷德梅尼[Eddie Redmayne]饰），当时她刚刚开始以女人的身份出现在公共场合，而后取了新名字叫莉莉·埃尔伯(Lili Elbe)。这幅画充满色情气息，完全走在时代前面，正如这部真人事迹改编电影中的两位主角，魏格纳与埃尔伯。1930年，埃尔伯成了最早接受变性手术的人之一。

“In this moment in the movie, through this painting, we can see how Lili and Gerda’s stories are both of a Danish tradition, and also far ahead of that tradition,” said David Ebershoff, author of the 2000 novel “The Danish Girl,” which was adapted for the film. “A women’s rights movement was playing out in Denmark somewhat simultaneously to their lives.”

“在影片的这一幕里，通过绘画，我们可以看出，莉莉和格尔达的关系既是一个丹麦传统故事，又是一个走在传统前面的故事，”2000年出版的小说《丹麦女孩》的作者，大卫·艾伯肖夫(David Ebershoff) 说，电影正是根据这部小说改编的。“当时女权运动正在丹麦盛行，与她们的生活是同步的。”

Despite being an American and British production, “The Danish Girl” — directed by Tom Hooper (“The King’s Speech”) — is the latest in a long line of sexually adventurous Danish stories exploring gender equality and identity. That tradition has been spurred on by other Danish firsts. It was the first country in the world to legalize printed pornography, in 1967; in 1969 it lifted censorship of all movies for adults. It was also the first to legalize same-sex civil unions, in 1989. (Same-sex marriage was sanctioned there in 2012.)

《丹麦女孩》由《国王的演讲》(The King’s Speech)的导演汤姆·霍珀(Tom Hooper)执导，尽管它由英美两国联合制作，亦是诸多探索性别平等与性别身份的丹麦性冒险故事中最新的一个。这一传统正是由其他的丹麦“第一”所激发出来的。1967年，它成了世界上第一个将色情出版物合法化的国家；1969年，它取消了对成人电影的审查制度。1989年，它成了第一个将同性民事结合合法化的国家（2012年，同性婚姻在丹麦亦得到承认）。

When Mr. Hooper visited Copenhagen for the first time last year, he “completely fell in love” with it, he said. In the film he wanted to pay homage to the city and the blue-gray paintings of the 19th century artist Vilhelm Hammershoi, whose works Mr. Ebershoff called “masterpieces of subdued longing.”

霍珀说，自己去年第一次来到哥本哈根，就“彻底爱上了它”。在影片中，他希望对这座城市致敬，也希望向19世纪艺术家威尔汉姆·哈默休伊( Vilhelm Hammershoi)笔下灰蓝色调的油画致敬，艾伯肖夫说，哈默休伊的作品是“大师杰作，反映了被压抑的渴望”。

Tightknit Denmark — current population: 5.6 million — has been defined for more than a century by a sense of social tolerance. The 19th century concept of cultural radicalism, with its critical attitude toward Victorian sexual restraint, has been incredibly influential, said the film historian Casper Tybjerg, a professor at the University of Copenhagen. “Sex is considered something natural and shouldn’t be regulated,” he said.

丹麦目前有560万人口，它是一个非常团结的国家，一个多世纪以来都以社会宽容而著名。哥本哈根大学教授，电影史学家卡斯帕·提布约根(Casper Tybjerg)说，19世纪的文化激进主义对维多利亚时代的性压抑持批判态度，对丹麦有着深远影响。“性被视为自然之事，不应当受到规章控制，”他说。

Five years before her countrywomen won the right to vote in 1915, the Danish movie star Asta Nielsen stunned audiences by playing a liberated woman who is to marry a vicar’s son but who runs off with a circus performer in “The Abyss.” During one dance number, she gyrates against her lover. “It’s very overtly sexual in a way that was quite striking to contemporaries,” Mr. Tybjerg said.

1915年，丹麦女人获得了选举权，在此五年前，丹麦电影女星阿斯塔·尼尔森(Asta Nielsen)在影片《深渊》(The Abyss)中饰演了一个思想解放的女人，她嫁给一个牧师的儿子，但是和一个马戏团演员私奔了，这个角色令观众大为震惊。在一场跳舞戏中，她绕着情人打转。“这是非常明显的情色，在某种程度上，对于当代观众来说也很惊人，”提布约根说。

He also said a “nonjudgmental strain” appears throughout movies in the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s. The first color live action film made in Denmark, “Kispus,” from 1956, features a lovably eccentric fashion designer, Mr. Marcel. “Quite clearly, this character is marked as a gay man in the film, and it’s not something that’s made fun of,” Mr. Tybjerg said. Other daring movies include “Venom” (1966, also known as “Gift”), about a hedonistic young man who films his sexual dalliances and watches hard-core pornography — though the explicit footage was then censored with big white crosses.

他还说，40、50到60年代的丹麦电影中有一种“不评判的特性”。丹麦的第一部彩色电影是1956年的《基斯普斯》(Kispus)，主角是怪癖可爱的时装设计师马塞尔先生(Mr. Marcel)。“显然，片中这个角色是个男同性恋，而且不是用来取笑的，”提布约根说。其他大胆的电影还包括1966年的《毒液》(Venom)，又名《礼物》(Gift)，讲述一个信奉享乐主义的年轻男子，他把自己的一夜情拍成录像，还看各种重口味的色情制品——尽管最后过于露骨的镜头被审查制度和谐掉，代之以银幕上的大白叉。

The end of film censorship in 1969 led to a flurry of movies with both explicit and nuanced themes.

1969年，丹麦取消了对电影的审查制度，导致一大批题材既露骨又微妙的影片涌现出来。

There was the 1970 counterculture “Concerning Lone,” about a teenage girl who travels to Copenhagen’s hippie area, later has exuberant topless sex, gets pregnant and seeks an illegal abortion. In 1978, “You Are Not Alone” was the first Danish movie to show two boys in love. Joyfully honest, it includes scenes of teenage boys kissing and also caressing naked in the shower.

比如1970年的反文化影片《问题少女露恩》(Concerning Lone)，它讲述一个少女到哥本哈根的嬉皮社区旅行，后来发生了激情洋溢的无上装性爱，又怀了孕，做了非法流产。1978年，《你并不孤独》(You Are Not Alone)是丹麦第一部关于两个男孩相爱的电影。它以令人愉悦的诚实拍出了少年男子接吻，在浴室裸体互相爱抚的情景。

Released in 1987, “Forever Friends” took a thoughtful approach to its story of a doe-eyed new guy in school becoming friends with a clique leader who is gay.

1987年的《好朋友，到永远》(Forever Friends)以深思熟虑的方式讲述了这样一个故事，一个眼神纯真的新生与学校里小圈子的领头人成了好朋友，发现这个小头头是个同性恋。

Yet amid this candor lies an entrenched Scandinavian concept, the law of Jante, satirically coined by the Danish author Aksel Sandemose in the 1930s, about being reservedly modest and not trumpeting individual success.

然而，斯堪的纳维亚人骨子里性格除了坦率，还有20世纪30年代阿克赛尔·桑德莫塞(Aksel Sandemose)所提出的“詹代法则”(law of Jante) ，是关于行事温和保守，不要宣扬个人成功的准则。

“I was brought up in a country that was very open, especially when it comes to sexuality, growing up as a young woman being able to talk to your parents about this from a young age,” said Ms. Vikander, a Swede whose father, a psychiatrist, has worked with transgender patients. “Jante will always be a part of me, in the sense that I was also brought up with people holding back just a tiny bit, at home.”

“我在一个非常开放的国家里长大，特别是性方面，年纪非常小的时候，我就可以和父母讨论这方面的问题，”维坎德说，她是瑞典人，她的父亲是心理医师，接待过跨性别的病人。“詹代法则在我心里根深蒂固，也就是说，我长大成人期间，周围的人即便在家里都会有所保留。”

In some way Lili, too, doesn’t want to stand out, Mr. Hooper said. “Eddie and I had conversations with trans people about ‘passing’ or blending in,” he said. “Lili was really quite a conventional woman, and wanted to find a man and become pregnant one day.” (Though details are vague about the scope of Elbe’s multiple surgeries, she died in 1931 after complications stemming from what may have been the attempted transplant of a uterus.)

在某些方面，莉莉也是这样不愿意抛头露面，霍珀说。“我和埃迪讨论过跨性别人士‘过关’，或者说融入主流社会的问题，”他说。“莉莉其实是个非常传统的女人，她想找个男人，生儿育女。”（关于埃尔伯所接受的多次外科手术的细节已经不详，1931年，她死于某些综合征，很可能是试图移植子宫的手术引发的。）

Ms. Vikander said she also became enamored of the naturalistic Dogme 95 film movement introduced in 1995 by the directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg. Both Ms. Vikander and Mr. Hooper cited Mr. Vinterberg’s raw 1998 Dogme film, “The Celebration,” about family sexual abuse, as one of their favorite Danish movies.

维坎德说，她喜欢自然主义的道格玛95电影运动(Dogme 95)，这是1995年由导演拉斯·冯·提尔(Lars von Trier)与托马斯·温特伯格(Thomas Vinterberg)发起的运动。1988年，温特伯格拍摄的道格玛电影《庆典》(The Celebration)讲述家庭性虐待的故事，维坎德与霍珀都说，这是自己最爱的丹麦电影。

After Dogme, progressive Danish films have included “Shake It All About” (2001), which revolves around a man who proposes to his boyfriend, then also falls in love with a woman; the coming-of-age lesbian tale “Triple Threat” (2006); and “Ladyboy” (2011).

道格玛运动之后，前卫的丹麦电影还包括2001年的《最爱还是他》(Shake It All About)，讲述一个男人向男友求婚，之后又爱上一个女人的故事；以及2006年的女同性恋成长故事《三重威胁》(Triple Threat)和2011年的《变性者》(Ladyboy)。

Last year, Denmark became the first European country to allow a legal change of gender without requiring a medical diagnosis. But movies about transgender people are still rare, said Thomas Gammeltoft, chief executive of the Copenhagen Film Fund, which helped finance “The Danish Girl.” So the film and its story of Elbe and Wegener will probably have an impact, he said.

去年，丹麦成了第一个不需要医学证明，就可以合法改变性别的欧洲国家。但是，哥本哈根电影基金会首席执行官托马斯·戈梅尔托夫特(Thomas Gammeltoft)说，关于跨性别者的电影仍然不多，该基金会资助了《丹麦女孩》的拍摄。他说，关于埃尔伯与魏格纳的故事肯定会产生巨大冲击。

Mr. Hooper agreed. “A lot of Danish people I talked to had not heard of them,” he said. “Most of all, I’d like to reclaim these two people who were iconic Danish citizens.”

霍珀对此表示同意。“我发现很多丹麦人都没有听说过她们，”他说，“最重要的是，我希望能恢复她俩在丹麦的偶像地位。”