Stephen Hawking has become some sort of a living icon. A legend. An idol. I am not surprised that James Marsh has decided to bring the biographical book, written by the very first Stephen’s wife, to life and release a film called ‘The Theory of Everything’. He’s not the first one letting us discover Stephen’s genius through brilliant cinematography. And he’s certainly not the last.
Some of my mates have once told me that I have no emotions. However, after watching this film and tearing up on a minute by minute basis I’ve realised that they couldn’t have been more wrong. My tears mixed with mascara were literally all over my face after the film ended.
QUANTUM GRAVITY AND… LOVE
I absolutely loved the fact that the screenplay author managed to combine two completely different things: physics and romance. Theoretical bit was immensely detailed (not as much as in the film ‘Hawking’), however, it did not throw the love line into the shade. It was not only a story about Stephen, but it also analysed how his women influenced his work and career.
As an example, the mise-en-scène when Hawking was in a hospital and doctors asked his first wife Jane whether they should let the physicist die, or bring him back to life adding, that he would not have an ability to speak ever again. The way Felicity Jones (acting as Jane Hawking) expressed her discontentment with this question was priceless.
And when you think about it, the woman could‘ve let the doctors end her husband‘s life, yet she fought for every second she could spend with him, which resulted in Stephen publishing one of the most substantial books on analysing the most significant subjects of cosmology, ‘A Brief History of Time‘.
REDMAYNE VS CUMBERBATCH
People tend to compare two of the best British actors Eddie Redmayne, who is the main actor in ‘The Theory of Everything‘, and Benedict Cumberbatch, who embodied the same physicist in 2004. I dare to say that it is not reasonable to think that anyone could impersonate Hawking better that Eddie. The complexity of both facial and body language would have been a real challenge for anyone, however, he coped with everything perfectly.
WHO SAID THAT ACTING IS EASY?
In an interview with Anne Mavity the actor admitted that in order to know how do muscles of people with ALS work, he went to a clinic in London and worked with specialists ciphering Stephen‘s physical decline from old photographs. He then made a chart of every muscle and its condition. “I downloaded every single photo of Stephen on my iPad and when it came to the facial side of it, it was literally sitting in front of the mirror and trying to recreate everything”, he told the interviewer. Eddie Redmayne worked with a dancer through every single move whilst controlling his blinking speed and how quickly his eyes were moving. You can watch the whole interview here.
‘The Theory of Everything’ is a must-see, especially if you’re addicted to good biographical films or books. I’ll just try to express my feelings towards it with 3 words, like professional film critics do.
Extraordinary. Spellbinding. Helping-you-find-your-non-existing-emotions.
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