Review of The Theory of Everything (2014) by Foxgrove — 10 Dec 2014

The Theory of Everything is basically a very conventional love story at its core. Based on the memoir by Jane Hawking it is at first surprising to find how much the screenplay concentrates on her. It is to the credit of Felicity Jones that she becomes the film’s ace card.

She truly shines here as Jane and it is almost totally due to her subtly understated performance that the story’s emotions feel honest and not overly manipulated. Eddie Redmayne is also very good, especially with the physicality the role demands, but surprisingly his role seems somewhat underwritten.

The screenplay pays scant attention to his professional achievements concentrating instead on his disability and the challenges this posed to the couple’s marriage. Anyone not knowing anything about Stephen Hawking going in to this film would be hard pressed to understand the reverence in which he is held, the tragedy of his physical battles notwithstanding.

Ironically, criticism levelled at 'The Imitation Game' and the lack of personal details about Alan Turing's personal life would be more pertinently aimed here at Hawking's professional one. Montages are adopted to delineate time lines to mixed success, but probably the biggest indication of the film’s failure is due to the fact that one is more interested in the love story between Jane and Jonathan than in the one between Jane and Stephen.