The Theory of Everything (2014)
Directed by James Marsh
Written by Anthony McCarten
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, David Thewlis
Release Date November 7th, 2014
Published November 5th, 2014
Why does "The Theory of Everything" exist? Where did it come from? Why is it here? Not even Stephen Hawking could explain that.
We have "A Brief History of Time," Errol Morris's remarkable documentary on the life of Stephen Hawking. It is the definitive story. "A Brief History of Time" combines Stephen Hawking's life and work as they should be, fully intermingled in time. Cross-cutting Stephen's childhood with bits of his theory, shifting between interviews about his past to his present theories, flows brilliantly with the way Stephen Hawking sees the world. It is timeless.
"The Theory of Everything," on the other hand, is a linear, conventional, Hollywood biopic with all the soft edges and soft focus of classic hagiography. Eddie Redmayne suffers for his art as he contorts himself into an exceptional bit of mimicry. But for what purpose? Redmayne is a fine actor, but he doesn't give us anything new about Hawking. Redmayne and director James March merely recite Hawking’s life in image and dialogue.
"The Theory of Everything" is based on the book by Jane Hawking, Hawking's first love and mother of his three children. The film is likely to make up for her diminished role in "A Brief History of Time," in which she chose not participate back in 1991. That’s nice, but it doesn't make the film all that more compelling. Jane is sweet and smart and above stalwart in the face of Stephen's many setbacks. But as played by Felicity Jones, she doesn't seem to have much inner life.
Jones is a lovely actress who is left bland by the demands of a script. The story makes her out as both a saint and a victim who suspended her own life in favor of Stephen's, only to see him move on in a relationship with his nurse after 20-some years of marriage. That's not to say that this passage in the film has much drama to it either. The marriage breakup is followed by Jane immediately finding love again. She and Stephen are able to find friendship and peace without any seeming messiness.
"The Theory of Everything" is a pretty movie with a pleasant score, a gentle sense of humor and a highly professional polish. So what? What is all of the polish in the world going to reveal about one of the most remarkable minds in history? Hawking's work is his most remarkable legacy. Here his theories are given short shrift in favor of a kitchen-sink melodrama about potential or perceived marital infidelity. Even though it is based on fact, it’s the least interesting aspect of his life.
Give me black holes and String Theory over marital morality plays any day of the week. You can have your gossip about who may have cheated on whom and when. I want to know more about time.
That's why "A Brief History of Time" makes "The Theory of Everything" irrelevant. In “Brief History” we get both a biopic (minus the gossip) and Hawking’s work. The work, not his love life, makes Hawking someone on which to focus a movie.
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