Done well, this could only be brilliant.
Then I started reading articles and opinions on the wider story, and I got concerned.
Now, I'm not well-placed to offer informed opinions on the trans debate, but I read a lot and have friends who have been restored to their rightful gender.
So I at least hoped The Danish Girl was going to look at some of the issues. I mean, how could it not?
What's that? You don't actually know what the story's about?
Oh, right, yes, sorry, jumped ahead.
Eddie plays Lili, trapped in the body of Einar, who became the first person to have gender realignment surgery.
Lili's journey from Einar to Lili is obviously fraught, and takes its toll on a marriage to Gerda (played by Alicia Vikander).
But it should be fraughter.
No, don't know if it is a word. But I've typed it now. Get over it, move on.
There are a whole host of issues to confront here.
Not just Gerda's reaction to the journey she has to go on, but also to the way society reacts to Lili's blossoming transformation.
But we don't get any of that.
We get a bit of a laugh as girls play dress-up, a few tears as Gerda loses her husband, and seemingly no controversy at all over the German doctor who is to undertake pioneering surgery.
Yes, we get a few doctors wanting to lock up someone they label schizophrenic, but this is hardly something that is dwelt upon.
All of which is a shame.
By giving The Danish Girl an almost polished sheen, both in terms of the script and the visual style, the story has ended up feeling sanitised and a bit distant.
The performances, while good, have that same kind of buttoned-up, repressed emotions feel usually reserved for a Jane Austen adaptation.
Which is a shame.
No, it's more than that. It's shameful.
This should be a heartbreaking, almost tortuous tale of courage against the odds - about a fight to be the person Lili was born to be, not the person she was born as.
Instead, we get moments that echo Brief Encounter.
And that's not a touchstone you want anywhere near a film that should be bringing to life the story of a pioneer.
That's not to say this is a bad film, it's not. It's fine.
And Redmayne and Vikander put in good performances.
It just feels like the whole thing has been handled so delicately it's ended up being wrapped in cotton wool.
Cotton wool you can see through, granted, but cotton wool nonetheless.
Parts of Lili's story have been tweaked, others ignored - which I know might have had to happen when you only have two hours to play with - but maybe we could have got to the heart of the matter a lot earlier in proceedings.
There was a chance to make a great statement here, or at the very least a firmer stand, but I suspect the dash for an Oscar or two has played its part.
Which is a pity. No matter how well shot it is.
Because it is well shot. It looks fantastic. And some of the scenes will take your breath away.
But I don't want my breath taken away. At least not in that sense.
I don't want The Danish Girl to try and emulate the pictures Einar paints, I want what's going on underneath.
I want to feel like I've been on Lili's journey with her, I want to feel like I've not only learnt something but been part of the journey.
I want to end the two hours feeling like I have felt every heart beat and shared every tear.
I don't want to come out thinking it was fine. That it hasn't made a massive emotional impact on my day, never mind my life.
Lili should have been a bold statement, a call to arms for change and acceptance in today's society.
We should have spent more time dealing with her struggles.
Instead we went to parties in a nice dress.
(I'll be honest, I didn't realise I was quite so annoyed by this film. Think I'll go pour a cuppa and see how Richard Parker is doing...)
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