Review of The Theory of Everything (2014) by Alex F — 07 Sep 2015

The love between a British student of European literature and a world-class theoretical physicist with a debilitating disease might not seem like typical big-screen fare, but a good story is a good story. And there's no better time to release a good story, well told, than while awards show voters are starting to think about which films and performances to place on their nomination ballots. "The Theory of Everything" (PG-13, 2:03) is a story of love and logic that takes us on a journey through the relationship of Jane and Stephen Hawking and through his quest to explain the mysteries of our universe with verifiable formulas and provable theories, even as disease gradually robs him of all muscular control.

Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones) are students at England's Cambridge University when these two opposites attract. He's a gangly PhD candidate with perpetually dirty glasses and unkempt hair. She's a pretty and confident fellow student pursuing a degree in the literature of the Iberian Peninsula. Oh, and he's an avowed atheist, while she's a faithful member of the Church of England. But none of those differences seem to matter as love blossoms. It's a love so romantic and deep that not even Hawking's ALS diagnosis and a prediction of his death in about two years can derail it. The couple marries and ends up having three children together. He, of course, lives much more than two more years and her self-sacrificial devotion enables him to earn his doctorate and pursue some of the most important scientific research of the 20th Century, culminating with his best-selling book "A Brief History of Time".

The story is based on Jane Hawking's book "Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen" and takes its title from an unauthorized compilation of Hawking's research as he looks for a single formula which would tie together the main fields of study within physics. The stories of Jane and Stephen's relationship and Stephen's work are interwoven so that the two narrative threads are inseparable, as they were in real life. Stephen's deteriorating condition is dramatically portrayed, but not exploited. The story of their marriage is both uplifting and unsettling, as both partners provide what the other needs, but each of their hearts eventually drifts toward another.

"The Theory of Everything" is both realistic and artistic. The skillfully told story is laid out with exceptional emotional depth by both of the leads and by the extraordinary commitment on the part of Redmayne to portray Stephen Hawking's physical and vocal deterioration with both accuracy and Hawking's characteristic humor and well-known humanity. At a few points in the movie, director James Marsh uses a subtle color tinting in his cinematography to help enhance the mood of the scene. He also gives the movie an ending that is perfectly suited to the subject matter. Although, the film has a few dull moments, most of it is positive, enlightening and beautiful to behold. I'm giving "The Theory of Everything" an "A-", and I'll be looking for it and for the names of Redmayne and Jones on nomination lists during the fast-approaching awards season.