The Theory of Everything (2014) – Review

Review: The Theory of Everything is an enchanting and inspiring love story and character drama.

The film is about theoretical physicist Professor Stephen Hawking and his wife Jane Wilde. The couple met at Cambridge, shortly before Hawking was diagnosed with motor neuro disease. They decided to get married, despite the uphill battle their relationship faced, with Hawking getting worse and losing more of his normal bodily function. They each achieved PhDs in their fields, but the film focuses more on Hawking’s work and Wilde’s struggle to keep herself together while having to dedicate herself to taking care of Hawking.

The Theory of Everything works on two narrative levels. On one hand, it is a very touching love story about two people who take the bad with the good to make a life together – and eventually part as friends. On the other hand, it is a character drama focusing on how each other them cope with the circumstances they face. For Hawking, he must face a life filled with moments of loss, as little by little, he will lose parts of himself (the ability to walk, speak and so on). For Wilde, she must face a life in which she becomes less of a wife and more of a caretaker, sacrificing in many ways her own life for his.

Director James Marsh does a good job with both of these narrative devices, structuring the film to take advantage of each. As a romantic drama, Marsh plays with the big moments in their relationship, focusing on their courtship. When Hawking was diagnosed (in the mid-1960s), he was given two years to live. Wilde seems to have been a big reason for him to not give up and keep going, even encouraging him to pursue his work and a full life. She is his strength. Marsh does a great job conveying that while their relationship is not perfect (but really, whose is) it is their deep friendship, beyond romantic love, that kept them together, despite the great obstacles they faced. Their love and friendship saved Hawking (or so the film might suggest).

On a character level, Marsh devotes a lot to developing these two characters, allowing the audience to see things from their perspectives, to feel what they feel. Hawking just wants to be normal (something that is very relatable), while Wilde gets worn down and just needs a life of her own. As Hawking’s condition worsens, raising the family and taking care of him fall solely on her. Plus, she does not have help of any kind for many years (professional or otherwise). Marrying Hawking she knew she is making a sacrifice and she goes into fully aware of what she is taking on, but time can and will wear down any resolve.

What I like about the film is that Marsh does not focus only on Hawking and his accomplishments, persevering in spite all the challenges he faced (and faces). It would have been easy for the film to take this narrative perspective. Hawking is, after all, the known entity. Instead, Marsh devotes just as much time to Wilde. Her emotional struggles and triumphs are given just as much dramatic weight. One might say watching this film that Hawking achieved what he has because Wilde was there to support him. Without her, he might not have done the things he has. It is a narrative theme that is not often explored in cinema – the importance of those behind the more famous people who achieve great things, especially when it comes to homemakers.

The Theory of Everything is a beautiful film because the audience is right there with the characters, feeling what they feeling, wanting what they want, and rooting for their success. Marsh structures the film to play to its dramatic strengths, which is emotionally manipulative even boarding on melodramatic at times, but in service of the narrative. The film is inspiring and charming.

Technical, aesthetic & acting achievements: James Marsh is a very good director of documentaries, most notably Man on Wire (which is brilliant) and Project Nim. With his fictional feature films, he has not had as much success. The best of which prior to The Theory of Everything is probably his directed chapter of the Red Riding Trilogy (he directed Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980). With The Theory of Everything, he combines his talent for telling true-life stories and garnering strong performances. It is his best feature film to date.

Aesthetically, The Theory of Everything has a lot going on. Composer Johann Johannsson’s score is wonderful. It plays beautifully with the love story elements as well as the inspiring moments of the narrative. It is uplifting. Benoit Delhomme’s cinematography is excellent as well. Here, Delhomme and Marsh maneuver the look of the film to fit the emotions at play in the moment. Sometimes the film is overblown with light, everything appearing radiant, and in other moments the lighting is rather dreary and dark – echoing the highs and lows of Hawking and Wilde’s relationship and personal struggles. John Paul Kelly’s production design grounds the film in a realistic feeling world, in some ways counter balancing the extremes of the photography. Kelly does a great job signaling the passage of time in the changing of décor, costumes and hairstyles.

The cast in the film is superb. Adam Godley, Christian McKay, Simon McBurney, and Emily Watson are all very good in small supporting roles. David Thewlis is also very good in the smaller supporting role, playing Dennis Sciama. Thewlis often at his very best in a mentor-like role (see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and to some extent Kingdom of Heaven – or conversely, as a complete bastard in Naked). Charlie Cox plays family friend to the Hawkings, Jonathan Jones. Cox uses his naturally friendly face to portray the man as being incredibly nice and understanding, and in many ways just what they needed. It is one of Cox’s best performances. Felicity Jones is fantastic as Jane Wilde. She has a lot of emotion to get through in the film, exhibiting the struggles that Jane faced and her strength. Jane (as a character) is in the difficult position of having to eventually leave Hawking but still remain likable (which is true to life, but could be somewhat hard to get across to an audience). Jones is excellent, as she woos the audience, expresses her character’s pain and needs, but also her warmth and fight. Jones is completely likable, throughout. Eddie Redmayne is incredible as Stephen Hawking, giving an extraordinarily physical performance (unmatched by anything else I have seen this year so far). Redmayne perfectly captures Hawking’s mischievous wit, compassion, ambition, and his physical tendencies. It is remarkable piece of acting.

Summary & score: The Theory of Everything could have been overly sappy, far too rigid a biopic or unfair to the people it portrays. In most cases, it would have been these things in lesser hands. Yet, as it is, the film presents full characters and even more important fully realized and powerful emotions, portrayed through excellent performances. 8/10

Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980 (2010) – Review

Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980 (from now on being referred to as Red Riding: 1980) is the second part of the Red Riding Trilogy (see part 1’s review). Red Riding: 1980 continues the corruption motif from part one, but overall is a drastically different film, stylistically, tonally and structurally, which is beneficial to it as it has its own identity. It is a much more a straightforward detective style mystery – the plot to uncover the mystery drives the story, and not so much the emotional journey of the characters. Corruption in the first is an abstract force that consumes and ultimately destroys Edward. Here, corruption is a much more literal concept. It is clear that the Yorkshire police department is corrupt (as we have seen the first part) and that something is not right with the case that Peter Hunt is being brought in to solve, not to mention that he has bad history with the police department and is convinced that they were hiding something. Unlike Edward, Peter is not an innocent in the world. He tries so hard to expose the truth, but he is having an affair and is distant from his wife emotionally – truths that he cannot come to terms with internally. If the first was about the corruption of the innocent, then this film is about corruption as a fact of life. Seemingly ever character his damaged in the film. There is no salvation apparent here (though, I get the sense that the third will be about salvation). As much as Peter wants to expose the truth, there seems to be a naivety to him, which is ultimately his downfall. Clearly, everything is grey in the world of the film, but Peter tries to see it as black and white. Director James Marsh does an excellent job visually exploring the slow realization that Peter has that he in fact is not the shining white knight in to save the day. The narrative is structured as a detective mystery – the detective (and team) find clues, uncover the mystery and solve the case by the end. And as such, the plot compels the story forward, not the characters. While the characters do have emotional journeys, they are complimentary and serve the plot (for the most part), and thus are not the focus. The downside of this is that none of the characters are fully fleshed out. Thus, the audience does not have a full emotional connection to them and are therefore not themselves emotionally engaged in the journey and outcome for the characters. Rather, they are engaged by the story – to see how it turns out. There is nothing wrong with this, but emotional connection has a deeper lasting effect on the viewer, and truly caring about the outcome of the characters leads to a more fulfilling experience than just wanting to see what happens next. And this is really the only issue, but an important one holding it back from being a great film. The mystery itself is engaging and interesting, but the lack of true connection with the main character, especially, leaves the film feeling satisfying from a story standpoint just not completely fulfilling. Red Riding: 1980 has everything a good mystery film should, but is just missing a deeper layer of emotional connection.

Technical achievements: James Marsh working with director of photography Igor Martinovic (again) made a very interestingly shot film. On the outside it appears fairly straightforward, but scenes like Peter Hunt’s visit to the mining town (It is such a striking scene and one of the most interesting on the year), Marsh’s use of visual narrative clues and his camera placement denoting power in scenes beget a compelling aesthetic composition. Tom Burton’s production design, along with the cinematography, is no nearly as bleak and gloomy as part 1, but it still casts a dark cloud over the film. The color yellow is used as an interesting contrast in Peter Hunt’s hotel room (I am not sure what it means, but it is quite noticeable). Dickson Hinchliffe’s score is very fitting to the detective mystery style of the film. The film being more plot than character driven left lead Paddy Considine with more of a going from point A to B to C to solve the mystery type of role, rather than one with a lot of emotional heavy lifting, but there were a few scenes in which he did have to portray the failures in his character’s life and he did so well. Maxine Peake’s character is a bit of a mystery, in that the viewer is never sure what she is fully up to or about; though certainly has some internal trauma. She, like Considine, is good in her role, as is the cast overall. However, it is Sean Harris that has the most interesting character and gives the scene stealing performance of the film. He is fabulous, hiding true evil behind a mask of blunt incapacity that almost plays as innocence (though we already know him from the first), cracking at times revealing glimpses of complete hate. Like the first part, Red Riding: 1980 is a very well made and aesthetically engaging film.

Red Riding: 1980 is a simple detective mystery on the surface, with a little Hitchcock MacGuffin thrown in for good measure, but underneath it is another fine study of human corruption continuing the series. 7/10

Available on Blu-ray and DVD on Amazon.com or watch it now streaming on Netflix.com