The Theory of Everything Movie Review
Director James Marsh’s new Oscar-nominated film “The Theory of Everything” looks beyond the footnotes of professor Stephen Hawking’s research. The movie focuses on Hawking’s struggles in love throughout his breakthrough discoveries, showing us that even the most brilliant people in the world face the horror of girl problems. If you're looking for an elaborate analysis of Hawking’s work, you’re better off reading his books.
The movie’s screenwriter, Anthony McCarten, adapted the play from the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Wilde Hawking, which deals with the relationship between her and Hawking. The movie begins at Cambridge University, where the young pair meet each other at a party. While their relationship starts out slow, shortly after they meet a doctor diagnoses Hawking’s with a form of motor neurone disease called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Hawking is told he has a life expectancy of two years. Hawking and Jane speed things up as they get married and start a family with three kids. Their relationship, however, takes a few unexpected turns as Hawking’s condition worsens and Jane begins to fall in love with another man.
Eddie Redmayne did a stunning job of portraying both the irritation and humor of Hawking as he loses complete control over his body. Redmayne took home the Oscar for Best Actor at this year’s Academy Awards. What made his acting Oscar-worthy was his mastery of the small, simple actions. His rigid finger movements and slurred words both highlighted Hawking’s frustration and made me cringe and awed at the realism of Redmayne’s portrayal. He also did an excellent job portraying emotions through his facial expressions. Playing a character who could only speak four words a minutes, his well-developed body motions were key for the role.
The cinematography also helped create a well-fitting atmosphere for the movie. The lighting, camera angles and a small number of out-dated props gave the film a classic and nostalgic feel. The classy outfits and sophisticated dialogue also captured the atmosphere of Cambridge in the 20th century astonishingly well.
However, the brief dialogue and pace of scenes made the plot difficult to understand. As the majority of Redmayne’s lines were short, they were easy to miss, especially as the character’s ability to pronounciate words deteriorated. In some scenes, Redmayne achieved a balance between slurred words and a distinctive voice, but other times his speech turned into a mumble I couldn’t understand.
The scientific aspect of the plot also felt lost at moments throughout the movie. While McCarton did a great job breaking down Hawking’s theories in understandable ways, I felt the movie’s plot undermined the importance of Hawking’s work. While a large theme of the movie’s plot was his success in physics against the odds of science itself, the plot should not have left me wondering what Hawking actually accomplished. I understand it’s a romantic movie, but just addressing that he wrote a book about “time” is too broad of a statement.
In conclusion, “The Theory of Everything” does a great job painting the heart-warming story of an awkward, dying young man discovering his own brilliance and the beauty of love. As long as you spend a few minutes researching Hawking before you watch the film, you might truly be inspired to finally snapchat that one girl or even do your math homework.