Though difficult to believe in a time when significant numbers of
Americans and an entire political party reject the findings of science, a
theoretical physicist occupies a place in the firmament usually reserved for
international celebrities, rock stars, and movie actors. Stephen Hawking’s most famous book, “A Brief
History of Time,” has sold more than 10 million copies, a number beyond the
aspirations of even the most ambitious literary schlockmeister.
His personal story, as most people know, makes him a perhaps more compelling
figure than his contributions to human knowledge.
Like many biopics, “The Theory of Everything” shows an
individual’s triumph over adversity, in Stephen Hawking’s case a diagnosis of
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in this country called Lou Gehrig’s disease, in
Britain, motor neuron disease, with a predicted life span of two years. When the condition appeared, Hawking was a
brilliant graduate student at Cambridge University, on the brink of a great
career. Based on a book by Hawking’s ex-wife Jane, the movie shows how the
couple coped with his tragic circumstance; it also shows not only his survival
but his great success as a major contributor to theoretical physics.
The film moves in a predictable manner, with familiar images
of student life against the picturesque background of Cambridge — beer in pubs,
some youthful lightheartedness, academic gowns, lots of tweed jackets — and
some romantic moments involving the meeting and subsequent relationship between
Stephen (Eddie Redmayne) and Jane (Felicity Jones). Despite
his father’s advice and Stephen’s disease, Jane marries him and the two of them
embark on an extraordinary challenge.
As Stephen’s disease progresses, his career advances, and his
theorizing about the origins of the universe earns him the admiration of his
peers and later, worldwide fame. At the
same time, Jane must deal with the immensely complicated and demanding life
that anyone caring for a disabled partner with increasing debility over time
knows only too well. He moves from one
cane to two, to a walker, then a wheelchair; when an operation to save him from
pneumonia robs him of speech, he initially communicates by blinking, then by
means of a computer that provides him with a robotic but understandable
voice.
In a comic moment, Jane’s mother suggests she join the church
choir to relieve some of the terrible stress of her life, which brings the
couple the devoted and generous friendship of the choir director, Jonathan Hellyer Jones (Charlie Cox). Jonathan helps both of them,
but his relationship with Jane raises other issues, resolved only after a
number of other complications over the passage of several years.
The movie obviously provides a special showcase for the
talents of Eddie Redmayne, who spends most of its
length in a wheelchair, his body and face twisted, his speech increasingly
distorted, his world and life tragically limited. He meets the demands of the
part, which require what must have been an exhausting physical and emotional
impersonation. Redmayne looks very like the
physicist, projecting a range of emotions within the strictures of his
character, creating a truly remarkable performance.
Typically in English movies, the whole cast performs with
great skill and conviction. In a part
almost as difficult as Redmayne’s, Felicity Jones
must express the complex emotions of a caregiver — grief, sympathy,
frustration, resentment, guilt, despair — with a properly British
understatement. She also initiates the
continuing subtext of the film as well, the conflict between the cosmologist
and the Christian, each attempting to understand how the universe began.
“The Theory of Everything” refers to Hawking’s attempts to
explain the origin and eventual end of the universe, an ambitious and ongoing
project. His survival for some 50 years after his diagnosis suggests that the
power of his genius may also have provided the spark of life that enabled him
to defy the doctors and the odds and continue his work. In a time when public
figures actually deride the work of science, his story, like “A Beautiful
Mind,” exalts the human intellect and its possibilities. The movie is also a
story of courage and heroism, both Hawking’s and Jane’s, a tribute to the
tenacity and sacrifice of both partners facing an unimaginably daunting life,
triumphing over tragedy, a tribute to the human spirit itself.
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2014.
