The Theory of Everything (movie review)

SYNOPSIS

Starring Eddie Redmayne (“Les Misérables”) and Felicity Jones (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2”), this is the extraordinary story of one of the world’s greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde.

Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of – time.

Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed.

The film is based on the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, by Jane Hawking, and is directed by Academy Award winner James Marsh (“Man on Wire”).

(c) Focus

VERDICT

I’m usually wary of movies that get nominated for awards because they tend to be.. erm… not that entertaining, in the sense that they tend to be too serious or deep, do you get what I mean? This movie was nominated for best film, best actor, and best actress, among others. (UPDATE: Eddie Redmayne won ALL the best actor awards – Golden Globe, BAFTA, Oscar.)

But I wanted to watch it even though it seemed serious (what would you expect from a true-to-life story of a scientist, right?) because I know Stephen Hawking’s story. I saw him guest star on The Big Bang Theory TV series and got interested in who he was, and also saw the TV movie based on his life (it starred Benedict Cumberbatch).

The Theory of Everything deserves all the awards because the acting is superb and to my pleasant surprise, it was a very interesting movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. Yes, it is a serious film, and is a drama that made me shed tears, but it had a lot of moments that made the audience laugh out loud too. Who knew that Stephen Hawking was such a witty guy? Yes, I know that his lines were written by scriptwriters, but I read that Stephen really does have the same wit in real life.

Eddie Redmayne shines in his portrayal of Stephen. He had such charming eyes and smile, and he caught my heart even as he sat deformed in his wheelchair. His portrayal of the degenerating disease (ALS, yes, that same ALS of the famous ALS ice bucket challenge last year) which made Stephen gradually lose control over his limbs was so realistic that it moved me to tears.

My tears could not help but roll in this scene

As I stared at him moving helplessly along, I felt ashamed of myself for taking so much for granted. I mean, here was a man who was given 2 years to live and slowly lost his body, but it did not make him give up on life, but instead took it as a challenge to achieve a lot before he died. And today, he is still alive and well at 72!

“Seeing the film has given me the opportunity to reflect on my life. Although I’m severely disabled, I have been successful in my scientific work. I travel widely and have been to Antarctica and Easter Island, down in a submarine and up on a zero gravity flight. One day I hope to go into space,” he said on his Facebook page. He has achieved so much more than most people who have full use of their healthy body!

Image credit: Stephen Hawking’s Facebook

My biggest admiration, however, was for Jane’s character. She was the one who insisted on still staying with Stephen despite knowing early on about his disease, and caring for him and THREE children. I will forever be in awe of how she managed that without any help. 😮

It was also really fun to see the actor who played Tristan in the movie Stardust. I hadn’t seen him in a while! He plays the part of Jonathan, a guy who helps the couple out and kinda becomes part of their family in a strange way.

One of my favourite parts was the ending, when they rewound the scenes of Stephen’s life, which I thought was a clever parallel to Stephen’s “theory of everything” that by rewinding time, he could take the universe back to its singularity as well.

It’s brilliant! This is easily one of my favourite movies in the recent years. I highly recommend it.

Ratings: IMDB – 7.7, Rotten Tomatoes – 79%

TRIVIA

The real Stephen Hawking has conveyed his approval of the movie by calling it broadly true. “I thought Eddie Redmayne portrayed me very well,” he said on his Facebook. “At times, I thought he was me.”

 

Following the screening of The Theory of Everything at the Toronto Film Festival in early September 2014, director James Marsh and the cast answered questions during an audience Q&A. They explained that the real Stephen Hawking had already seen the movie, saying that a nurse wiped a tear from his cheek as the lights came up at his screening. Hawking subsequently gave the filmmakers license to use the audio produced by his trademark speech synthesizer. -Variety.com

In addition to his copyrighted voice, Stephen Hawking also lent the filmmakers his Medal of Freedom medallion and his signed thesis to use as genuine props in the film. -IMDB

Eddie Redmayne met with Stephen Hawking only once before filming. “In the three hours I spent with him, he said maybe eight sentences,” recalls Redmayne. “I just didn’t feel like I could ask him intimate things.” Therefore, he found other ways to prepare for the role. He lost about 15 pounds and trained for four months with a dancer to learn how to control his body. He met with 40 ALS patients, kept a chart tracking the order in which Hawking’s muscles declined, and stood in front of a mirror for hours on end, contorting his face. Lastly, he remained motionless and hunched over between takes, so much so that an osteopath told him he had altered the alignment of his spine. “I fear I’m a bit of a control freak,” Redmayne admits. “I was obsessive. I’m not sure it was healthy.” -IMDB

To check out which parts of the movie were true or not, check out this post on History vs Hollywood.

Image credit: all movie pics are owned by Universal Pictures.