This is a lyrical and magnificent film, adapted from a literary source (a memoir by Jane Hawking). Rich in character and dialogue, “The Theory of Everything” is primarily a romance wrapped around a chronicle of a brilliant and beautiful mind trapped in a malfunctioning body. This film is a narrative of heartbreak, marital and emotional distance, with jagged edges and torn souls portrayed with great subtlety and craft.
Focusing on the courtship and marriage of Jane (the riveting Felicity Jones) and Stephen Hawking (a tour-de-force performance by Eddie Redmayne from “My Week with Marilyn” and “Pillars of the Earth”), we see the two principals portray great humor, courage, and most of all, love for each other. “The Theory of Everything” covers a twenty-five year period from Stephen Hawking’s days as a PhD student at Cambridge (1965), to his best-selling treatise, A Brief History of Time (1988) and recognition as a Companion of Honour by the Queen (1989).
Jane is also a PhD student who is an aspiring scholar in French and Spanish, but sacrifices her own academic career in order to nurture a tender, defiant, and at times imperiled marriage. The decline of Stephen Hawking’s health seems to parallel the decline in the marriage between Stephen and Jane.
Using fireworks and cinematographic images of the star-filled sky to suggest Hawking’s brilliant astrophysics theories , the viewer is given a glimpse of his theoretical physics, a quest for a single elegant mathematical theorem to express the system of the universe in all its glory, from inception to black holes and the beginning of time. A very light touch is given to his theories on cosmology.
The poignancy and painful irony of observing a consummate mathematics genius, who theorizes about the infinity of space and time, crammed into a very confining capsule, wheelchair-bound, is portrayed without pity. As Hawking’s illness progresses and the muscles in his neck fail to hold his head, we see Redmayne appear to do the impossible: a physical performance imitating the paralysis and speechlessness of Hawking, cocking his head to the side, like a fragile bird whose neck is broken. As flaccid as a puppet, the actor nonetheless conveys humor, a confident understanding, and an unflinching empathy in a glance or a subtle postural change. There is an emotional and powerful transparency in Redmayne’s eyes that is at once complex and revealing. With only synthesized computer speech to communicate as his speech slowly curdles into incomprehensibility, Redmayne makes the inexpressible understandable.
Felicity Jones’ role as Jane Hawking is just as striking, conveying the vibrancy and heart-wrenching devotion for a man she admires, loves, and wants to make happy. Her understanding and compassion make “The Theory of Everything” tremendously moving and inspirational, as well as being a testament to strength of character and human values. This film should win Oscars!