The Theory of Everything
Composite Score: 85.47
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Harry Lloyd, Maxine Peake, David Thewlis, Michael Marcus, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, and Charlie Cox
Director: James Marsh
Writer: Anthony McCarten
Genres: Biography, Drama, Romance
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some thematic elements and suggestive material
Box Office: $123.73 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
The Theory of Everything is the film adaptation of the biography of Stephen Hawking by Jane Hawking – Traveling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen. The film follows Stephen from his days as a doctoral student at Cambridge where he met Jane and, soon after, received his ALS diagnosis all the way through the late 1990s when the couple divorced and carried on in different directions. The film stars Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones opposite him as Jane and also features Charlie Cox as the family’s friend and helper and Jane’s eventual second husband Jonathan Hellyer Jones. Its acclaim upon release garnered it Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Lead Actress for Jone as well as a win for Best Lead Actor for Redmayne. Its blending of romantic drama with the typical tropes of biopics has made it one of the more lasting films in that genre as well.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Eddie Redmayne being the actor who came out on top of the 2014 Best Actor race has never sat right with me even though he does give a physically impressive performance that probably is his personal best. The other performances (besides maybe Bradley Cooper’s in American Sniper) were all at least comparable to, if not better than Redmayne’s – not to mention the snubbing of David Oyelowo’s MLK from Selma and Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler. This Oscar ultimately feels more like the Academy recognizing Stephen Hawking than actually rewarding the year’s best performance (for another example, see Rami Malek’s speaking only portrayal of Freddie Mercury beating Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born performance). He also won the BAFTA, the Golden Globe, and the SAG for his performance, running the table in a year when there were so many strong performances, so it just feels weird.
Really, though, I think Redmayne’s performance, however outshined it might be in hindsight by the film’s peers, is still solid enough and probably the best part of the film. The actual issues with the film itself come in the form of its visuals and execution. It makes for a great period romantic drama, but its biographical points feel a bit half-hearted outside of Hawking’s relationships with his wife and family. It’s interesting enough, but it’s not as enthralling as a film that actually went a bit deeper into the acclaimed physicist’s research and discoveries probably could have been. Combine that with some of the most baffling cinematographic and post-production choices I’ve ever seen in a film (why is there blue tint over a large portion of the film?) and you’re left with a biopic that ultimately falls in the ranks of all other biopics, offering a slightly unique perspective on a famous person that doesn’t do much more than tell you about their family life.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
While I might not agree with the decision to award Eddie Redmayne every award for this performance, I do recognize his skill in executing the transformation of Stephen Hawking from the film’s beginning to its end, and it’s he and Felicity Jones that carry this film. Redmayne’s personification of the acclaimed physicist showcases the actor’s physicality and capability in becoming a different person. From the start of the film to the end, he shifts from just being Eddie Redmayne in some funny glasses to looking and moving like Stephen Hawking at the film’s conclusion. It’s a powerful transformation that keeps the film engaging even at its slower points. Likewise, Felicity Jones carries the bulk of the film’s emotional weight on her own shoulders as Jane Hawking. It’s her story just as much as it is Stephen’s, and Jones is more than up to the task of playing the romantic lead opposite the increasingly debilitated Redmayne/Stephen Hawking. Like her counterpart, it’s more her expressions and looks of regret and longing and love than her vocalizations that carry her performance, and she portrays the genuine love of a wife for her husband and the frustration of a woman dealing with the debilitation of her husband and the platonic devotion of someone who cares for another even when the romance has passed on. It’s her performance that gives the film (and Hawking’s story) its weight while Redmayne serves more as the film’s intellectual and conceptual focus.
Two stellar leading performances make what could otherwise be a paint-by-numbers biopic combined with an okay example of a period romantic drama into a showcase of acting capabilities and moving performances in The Theory of Everything, saving its place among the greats. Some of James Marsh’s directorial decisions and the familiar beats of biographic films remain somewhat disappointing in the overall run of things, but nothing can take away from Redmayne’s and Jones’s portrayals of their characters. If you’d like to check this film out, it’s currently available to rent on most streaming services.
