Directed by: James Marsh
Screenplay by: Anthony McCarten
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Emily Watson
Rating: 4 out of 5
Questions about black holes, time travel, the beginning of the Universe. What they have in common is the man who is determined to answer them. And then present his theories to a wider audience that has probably never had the honour of going to Harvard.
The Theory of Everything shows us the journey of Stephen Hawking. Starting with his uni life and finishing in the present day. We can see him striving to find answers to the unaswerable and, sadly, we can also see the progress of his amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which I found particularly interesting. It is incredible what physical damage can a disease do and, despite all the prejudice, the mental state remains just as same. It's a result of a slow, painful advance which we can see throughout the film.
Eddie Redmayne did a wonderful job portraying Hawking. And I am not saying that just because I used to have a major crush on him since I saw him in My Week with Marilyn. His facial expressions and movements were hauntingly accurate. His performance is a good shot for the Academy Awards, but I assume I will be angry just like I am every year. Because apparently, when I want someone to get an Oscar, the time they get it is actually never.
I hardly ever complain about a length of a film, but given the genre, I have had slight difficulties. It's a biography, not an action-packed blockbuster. But since my attention span is shorter than a -Oh, there's a fly on my window. I found myself looking at the clock too soon, only realising that a good half of the film was still left and my focus has already took a train to the town of Nope. Luckily, this crisis was gone after a while and when my mind got back from its trailing off journey, I actually found myself enjoying the film again. It was, however a major stumble that has cost this film one star off the noble five.
Of course, the movie industry can't do without going all romantic. So the relationship with Jane was naturally inevitable. Understandable, that Hawking's wife probably did have a huge part in his life, but for me, it was too glorified in the film. Especially the spinning scene at the beginning. It was unnecessarily prolonged and I started wondering whether he would shove her into the river at the end to prove that the spinning was actually good for something.
I know the one thing that this film lacked. A great finale. The theory of everything still doesn't exist. There is no equation that would explain all the physical laws of the Universe. So while an anxious and eager viewer without any previous knowledge of Hawking's life expects the big bang at the end, he might end up getting a bit disappointed as he may feel that the film actually doesn't live up to what it says on the tin. Understandable, but it is merely a viewer's fault for not being informed. It's not fiction. Just facts.
A special prize goes to the end credits, which were basically a visual porn for hipsters and I bet people are going to set those nebula pictures as Tumblr backgrounds. And the music. As an enthusiastic listener to instrumentals, I knew the piece Arrival of the Birds by Cinematic Orchestra, but now I was more than happy to finally associate it with some kind of visuals.
And just for the chills, try looking up Stephen Hawking when he was young and compare it to Eddie Redmayne. See?