Susan Granger’s review of “The Theory of Everything” (Focus Features)
Eddie Redmayne has a lock on a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his eloquent portrayal of renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. In this poignant, revelatory biopic, Redmayne realizes a challenging physical, mental and emotional transformation, comparable to Daniel Day-Lewis’ in “My Left Foot.”
Hawking’s story begins in 1963 at Cambridge University, where he was a raffishly disheveled scholar who liked to build model airplanes and boats, shoot off fireworks and play board games. That’s where he fell in love with fellow student Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones). Then, at age 21, he was diagnosed with ALS – a.k.a. Lou Gehrig’s disease. Frustrated yet fiercely independent, he continued his study of cosmology, encouraged by his mentor Dennis Sciama (David Thewlis). In retrospect, Hawking has said that his body’s deteriorating motor/neuron condition liberated his mind. Hawking’s fame increased with the publication of “A Brief History of Time,” detailing his groundbreaking theories, and he embarked on a series of lecture tours. Although Stephen and Jane had three children, they drifted apart emotionally. Jane fell in love with choirmaster Jonathan Hellyer Jones (Charlie Cox), while Stephen subsequently married and divorced one of his nurses, Elaine Mason (Maxine Peake).
Adapting Jane Hawking’s memoir “Traveling to Infinity: My Life With Stephen,” screenwriter Anthony McCarten and director James Marsh reveal the complicated, sensitive man behind the genius IQ – and they were allowed to use Hawking’s own speech synthesizer to replicate his iconic voice. It’s astonishing how Eddie Redmayne (“Les Miserables”) is able to communicate Hawking’s emotions by mirroring the expressive, often mischievous movements of his eyes and eyebrows.
Whatever happens in the Oscar race, Eddie Redmayne has already received his highest compliment. After watching a London screening, now 72 year-old Stephen Hawking called the film “broadly true,” saying there were certain points where he thought he was watching himself.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Theory of Everything” is an extraordinary, inspirational 10. “There should be no boundary to human endeavor,” Hawking concludes. “However bad life may seem, where there is life, there is hope.”
