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Film Review of 'The Theory of Everything'
SPOILER ALERT!
This astonishing film follows one of the 20th century's most extraordinary men and his family. Golden Globe winner, Eddie Redmayne IS Stephen Hawking in the astounding story of how he surpassed all his expectations.
Last night, I had the extraordinary pleasure of going to see James Marsh’s new film, “The Theory of Everything”. Based on Jane Wilde’s marriage memoirs, the film follows the astonishing life of world genius, Steven Hawking in his ambitious study of time and his fight against motor neuron disease. The disease disrupts motor neurons/messages in the brain that send signals to muscles to make them work. When these signals are disrupted, it leads to muscle decay which causes loss of movement, speech and eventually death. Hawking was diagnosed with the illness at the age of just 21, whilst studying for his degree at Cambridge University (after already achieving a first at Oxford), with the prediction that he had only 2 years left to live. The film depicts his staggering battle with this disease as he succeeds all his expectations – like out living his life-expectancy by over 50 years! Hawking’s professional life has certainly been incredible with his work on time and universal theories being undoubtedly ground-breaking.
However, this film looks at Hawking’s personal life and how
he had to cope with this deteriorating disease. It looked at the pressure this
put on his family life, particularly the strain on his first wife, Jane who he
met whilst studying at Cambridge.
The film’s stellar cast: Eddie Redmayne (Hawking) and Felicity
Jones (Jane), portrayed their parts with such intense naturalism that you
couldn’t help but get tangled up in their bewildering romance and astonishing
story.
Jones, portrayed Jane with real depth of character as she
showed the love of her husband yet also the strain the disease had on her and
her family. She was very natural in her approach which was refreshing to see
that she did not have any raging fits or shouting at Hawking like some films
resort to to show the built up frustration and resentment that carers can
sometimes suffer from. Instead, she mainly used her positioning in relation to
Hawking, a clipped tone of voice here and there or a resentful glance. Yet this
added a wider depth to her brave character. Indeed, she was portraying Jane
Wilde, one of the most extraordinary women that gave up her own life to look
after the man she loved. Her courage is relentless and her love just as
generous. Although the main focus could have been Hawking’s fight with the
disease to maintain his professional career, I’m thrilled that they used that
as a sub-plot, deciding to focus mainly of Hawking’s personal life to give us a
privileged and humbling insight into what he and his family went through and
I’m sure, are still going through.
Ok, now I will talk about Eddie Redmayne’s Golden Globe
winning performance. Where on Earth shall I begin? Maybe with the fact he acted
a world-famous figure superbly? Or maybe with the fact that he portrayed a tear
jerking, believable love story? Or maybe I should start with the fact he acted
having motor neuron disease?! Redmayne’s physical performance was like none I’ve
ever seen before. It was striking, bold and yes, a little uncomfortable to
watch at times. As I mentioned earlier, motor neuron disease is a deteriorating
illness that means the body’s muscles slowly start to decay and thus make a
person immobile and unable to speak. But as I’ve said, this is a deteriorating
disease that progressively gets worse. Redmayne’s journey from spritely student
without a care in the world (a part from maybe a few jerky hand movements, the
awkward foot placement here and there) to utter bodily distortion and moral
dismay, was unbelievable. Every part of him was Hawking – from his backward
foot placements, awkward leg jerks, abnormal hand positions, even to seeing the
effort it took him to speak as the disease took hold of him – making his eyes
and mouth twitch with irregular jaw strain and head positioning. Indeed,
another aspect of remarkable talent was his speech. As it deteriorated, the sound
became less distinct and harder to understand. Goodness knows how Redmayne
perfected the part so well. Furthermore, what made this film almost hard to
watch was his emotional journey as he started to struggle with everyday life,
always getting harder. From accepting the fact that he wouldn’t be able to
walk, to accepting that he couldn’t hold his children unsupported in his arms,
to not being able to get up the stairs even using his elbows to crawl up
(featured in a heart wrenching scene after he’d been made a doctor, with a PhD
in Physics and then couldn’t get halfway up the stairs to see to his son,
barely a toddler who was standing at the top, waiting for his dad).
Redmayne quite literally blew myself and I’m sure the rest
of the audience away. He was undeniably brilliant in this role and all his hard
work in achieving the perfect technique to play it had definitely worked off. I’m
thrilled that he won his deserved Golden Globe yesterday night for best actor –
as much as I enjoyed Cumberbatch as Alan Turing in the ‘Imitation Game’,
Redmayne’s Hawking was impossible to beat.
Overall: 5 Stars.
This film is truly a testament to spirit, perseverance, love and ambition. This is an astonishing true story that will give you a tear in
your eye throughout – from seeing the triumphs and downfalls of Hawking and of
his family, this is a truly absorbing and astonishingly crafted film.
Picture: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2980516/ + Own editing on Paint
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