MOVIE REVIEW: The Theory of Everything

Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne as Jane and Stephen Hawking.

Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne as Jane and Stephen Hawking.

Published Feb 27, 2015

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THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

DIRECTOR: James Marsh

CAST: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Tom Prior, Emily Watson, David Thewlis

CLASSIFICATION: PG13

RUNNING TIME: 123 minutes

RATING: ****

 

 

How much you enjoy the film will depend entirely on what you expect and want from it. If you’re thinking that you will get to know more about the work of Stephen Hawking, the scientist afflicted by Motor Neuron Disease (that’s what it’s most commonly called, but it’s also know as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), you will learn that black holes are his big focus and that he makes certain breakthroughs. But also, that he seems to land on the opposite side in his findings from where he started out. Or something like that.

If you’re trying to pick through the dirt of a marriage that drained both people, the one physically because of ill health and the other emotionally because of carrying the burden of the family, it’s also not going to be that sweet, because based on Jane Hawking’s memoir, Travelling to Infinity: My Life With Stephen, it is going to give a somewhat sanitised version rather than a tell-it-all.

The thing that grabs at your heart is the determined desire of two people to battle the odds. Yes, he has one of the best brains in the world, but that doesn’t always follow with emotional intelligence and she has to step out of her life, which at that point is her Phd in medieval Spanish poetry (which she achieved much later), to become the pillar in her partner’s life.

It is a choice they make with the knowledge that Hawking probably only has two years to live. It will be a compressed but full life, they accept – until real life starts taking over and he outlives everyone’s wildest predictions.

As Hawking disintegrates physically, medical improvements allow him (and the Hawking genes apparently) to live much longer (he recently turned 73), and that’s a totally different proposition than two-and- something years. Not that these two young warriors weren’t determined to win it all. That’s really what this film is about – it’s a love story. It’s about a man who isn’t given anything but his mind, while his wife heroically steps out of her life and into his, to honour that.

It also strips away the notion that romantic love carries all. Once the daily grind sets in and someone has to lead not one but two lives, it’s a totally different kind of dedication. “I tried my best,” says Jane as they view their accomplishments. “There were many years.”

The battle of trying to keep things together is a fascinating one because it asks many questions and points to obstacles some of us will encounter in our lives. That’s what takes us into the story.

It’s not the detail of A Brief History of Time, which is dished out in snippets, it’s the ordinariness of trying to live a life in extraordinary circumstances that becomes impossible.

And most illuminating is the irony of Hawking’s life that is captured here. It’s almost as if he has been stripped of everything but his genius. But perhaps that was necessary for him to make the breakthroughs he did.

There’s enough to intrigue. The performances are quality with both Redmayne (now rewarded with the Oscar) and Jones working with everything they’ve got. But in the end, it’s not the Hawking story that unfolds but a story of a man and a woman declaring their love and determined to make a go of it against all odds – and they almost get there.

It’s not the best made movie, almost too choreographed in many of the moments, and The Theory of Everything is not about Hawking the scientist. As long as you’re clear about that, it’s an intriguing tale of love, which in conclusion is the theory of everything.

If you liked The Imitation Game and My Left Foot, you will like this one.

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