Director: James Marsh
Writer: Anthony McCarten
Starring: Eddie Redmayne
Felicity Jones
Charlie Cox
Maxine Peake
David Thewlis
Harry Lloyd
Emily Watson
Simon McBurney
Abigail Cruttenden
Rating: ****
Release Date: Out Now
I have read a few other reviews and heard a few people say that The Theory of Everything didnt focus enough on why Stephen Hawking is so famous or the work that he did. This is an opinion that has completely baffled me. I was always under the impression that this was going to be a film about the beautiful love story between two people. Maybe I've seen too many interviews where this has been stated, or maybe it's because every poster has the two pivitol characters in some sort of embrace. Either way, it is a film that took my breath away and opened my eyes to just how remarkable Stephen Hawking is.
In the film Eddie Redmayne gives a really well thought out, intelligent and sensitive performance as Hawking himself. When we first meet him he is a healthy, slightly cocky, Cambridge undergraduate who, unbeknownst to him, is just months away from being diagnosed with the life changing motor neurone disease. As the doctor reveals that he only has 2 years to live, the first of many emotional scenes in this epic story, his main support comes in the form of his religious girlfriend Jane (Jones). She promises to stand by Stephen, and that whatever time they have left together she wants to spend with him. It was Jane's 2008 memoir 'Traveling to Infinity' that serves as the subject material for this film.
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| Eddie Redmayne & Felicity Jones |
The director, James Marsh, clearly has a strong vision for the film a vision that really helped to up lift and move the script, by Anthony McCarten, along. The initial scene where Hawking gets diagnosed with his disease is filmed almost like a classic horror film. Hospital corridors appear abandoned, and Redmayne remains, alone, to take in the devastating news.
The performance from Redmayne as Hawking is beyond description, He brings a graceful presence with him and a phenomenal transformation, to the point you completely forget that you are wathing an actor portray Stephen Hawking. He shows the complete physical transformation from healthy student, to a man confined to a wheelchair; and it never comes off comical or uncomfortable to watch. The things Stephen Hawking went through in his life were awful, and in this film they are dealt with sensitively but honestly, and most of that is down to Eddie Redmayne, who will be getting robbed if he does not win the Oscar for this performance.
Felicity Jones is a bit of a hidden gem in this role, her characters development is a very subtle one, and it isn't until leaving the cinema and reflecting on the film that I realized what a complex role it was. She brings a new and meaningful voice to each line she reads; and as it becomes more apparent to her what a task she has taken on in being a carer to Stephen and mother to his children, the more worn down and emotional her performance becomes. She also is able to show the subtle changes in her mood with ease, from being worn down, to happy to see her new choir director, Jonathan (Cox), to even the pang of jealousy she gets as Stephens speech therapist grows closer to him.
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| Charlie Cox |
There are a couple of love triangles in the story, the most predictable being between Jane and Jonathan. However despite it being an obvious turn of events, I found myself completely empathising and feeling sorry for Jane. She was a woman in a stressful situation just looking for some sort of freedom, sadly that came in the form of another man.
The Theory of Everything is a true love story, they were a young couple who fell in love and managed to overcome all sorts of emotional and physical obstacles to create a family and the life they now both have. In the beginning he was given 2 years to live, and Stephen Hawking has managed to surpass that and surprise everyone; not only with his health, but with his amazing brain. This film does a real service to the man's story, and while not much of his career is spoken of, his life is really revealed, no stone unturned.
The Theory of Everything - Trailer
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