Film Review: ‘The Theory of Everything’
Director: James Marsh
Cast: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, Simon McBurney, David Thewlis
Age Restriction: 7–9PG
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 123 minutes
Release date: 27 February 2015
The Theory of Everything tells the true life story of Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) – an English astrophysicist diagnosed with motor neuron disease at age 21, more commonly known today as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
The film kicks off exploring Stephen during his healthy years as a bright young man studying astrophysics at Cambridge University, and who falls head-over-heels in love with Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones) – a literature student.
Stephen’s life is completely shattered when he discovers his illness and is given approximately two years to live. Jane, completely smitten with Stephen, decides to stay by his side no matter what and help him fight his illness – and the two marry.
Looks like the fighting paid off, as Stephen outlived the two years by a long shot, and is currently 73 years old.
But back to the film.
Jane looks after husband, but as Stephen begins deteriorating so does she, as she struggles to take care of a very fragile Stephen while looking after their three children at the same time.
The film as a whole is well-crafted with an inspirational and detailed story that will keep viewers constantly glued to the screen without hesitation.
The film doesn’t shy away from exploring its characters either as they’re all well-developed and well-acted, with layers of emotion added to bring dimensions to each character and allowing audiences to actually care for them.
The Theory of Everything has been beloved by critics, and was nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture – all deserved, except perhaps Jones’ Best Actress nomination, because while she gave a great performance, it certainly wasn’t anything Oscar worthy.
Redmayne on the other hand gives an extraordinary performance as Stephen Hawking and really immerses himself into the role currently deemed his best to date, and his Best Actor Oscar win was well-deserved.
Redmayne gives a layered performance as his acting constantly changes throughout the film thereby corresponding with Stephen’s slow transition from able-bodied to disabled. As healthy Stephen, Redmayne portrays the happy-go-lucky scientist with great ease and once disabled, Redmayne continues to be flawless – on everything from his vocal performance to his facial expressions – an amazing feat of acting talent.
Stephen’s scientific theories are also added into the film, but won’t turn off the average moviegoer as they’re presented in a simplistic way without sacrificing its intelligence.
As previously mentioned, the film is inspirational and filled with emotion and will leave viewers teary-eyed, hopeful, appreciative and most importantly, inspired!
All in all, The Theory of Everything is a well-balanced, well-acted award-winning film with Redmayne’s extraordinary performance making him utterly deserving of his Oscar win for Best Actor.
