The arrival of January is not all drizzle and gloom as it traditionally marks the start of Oscar Season in the cinema. Despite not having seen the trailer The
Theory of Everything had picked up enough traction and pre-nomination buzz to
convince me that it was worth a look.
I am too lazy to keep up any
pretence that I knew a single factoid about Stephen Hawking before I entered
the screen. I knew nothing and I am
happy to live in ignorance and allow any fictional embellishments to pass me
by.
PLOT: While writing his PHD at Cambridge University
Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) is diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease. Despite being given two years to live Hawking
goes on to be one of the greatest physicists of our time. END PLOT
The Theory of Everything provided a very
engaging introduction to an individual I really should know more about. I was surprised to see that The Theory of
Everything focused as much on Hawking’s wife Jane (Felicity Jones) as
Hawking himself. The film was more of a
drama which focused on a family living with a degenerative illness rather than
a biopic of Hawking’s life and achievements.
I suppose this was to be expected given that the script is based on Jane
Hawking’s book rather than any official memoir of Stephen Hawking’s.
The script touched over the
major events in Hawking’s life but didn’t delve into them in any great
detail. It felt like the film was made up of
individual set pieces chronicling random events with the passage of time being marked by the various hairstyles of Felicity Jones. This worked, but only just,
as there were occasions when I couldn’t shake the feeling that the film was
dragging its heels. There was thankfully enough heart and light humour to keep the film from becoming too dry.
Any pacing or plot flaws can
be forgiven by the performance of Eddie Redmayne who gets top marks for commitment. I never had any particular opinion of
Redmayne before today but his portrayal of Hawking took me completely by surprise and he
deserves credit for it. The last time I
watched an actor become totally immersed in his character was Michael
Fassbender in Shame. It is a rare treat
to watch.
Eddie Redmayne had great chemistry with Felicity Jones which made their scenes together a pleasure to watch. The supporting cast was made
up of familiar British faces and much fun was to be had with the “where do I
know him from?” game. The answer was
usually Harry Potter. There was no weak link in the acting department but unfortunately no attempt was made to flesh out any of the supporting characters, for example, Stephen's best friend Brian (the charming Harry Lloyd) went missing for huge chunks of time but was always available to attend a garden party.
The Theory of Everything is held
together by the performances of Redmayne and Jones and although the plot needed
some more depth it is worth at least one viewing. The Theory of Everything gets a very
respectable 8/10. The problem is it is
hard to imagine a scenario in my life that would compel me to watch this film
again. This is was stops a good film
from becoming great.
In total agreement, really enjoyed the way the films leads worked together. Redmayne is great but Jones is just as good. Hilarious about the Harry Potter thing, I was thinking the exact same thing!
ReplyDeleteThe poor secondary actors for Harry Potter are destined to play secondary characters in all British films until the end of time!
DeleteThe performances were great but you probably couldn't pay me to watch it again
K :-)