The Theory of Everything

[cheekyweelassie]

Saw this last night at a packed Vue at the O2 Finchley Road (with a sense of nostalgia as this used to be one of my local cinemas).

I really enjoyed this right from the start. I echo the opinions of other posters that the two central acting performances were fantastic. I thought that Eddie Redmayne in particular did an incredible job, particularly in the later portion of the film where he had to convey so much with the glint in his eye or the twitch of a smile.
I found the ongoing sparring between religion and science a bit annoying, but I suppose it was reflective of the opposing world views of the couple. I was quite baffled (and bored) by the science itself, but I don't suppose Stephen Hawking himself would have been so supportive of the film if it dropped the physics stuff! The interesting thing about it for me was the rise of his celebrity and his impact and esteem within the science community, with the knock-on effect that had on his intimate relationships.
I thought it was interesting that there was no mention of the fact that Stephen was briefly married to his nurse Elaine, but I suppose the film was based on Jane's book so it was naturally more from her point of view. The film certainly did make me feel sympathy for her as a carer, as well as for Stephen with his life-changing condition.
I thought it was a love story rather than a biopic, but not such a rose-tinted one, which I thought made it better.

9/10

[RAZORBACK]

When I first watched the trailer it generated a very strong emotional response so I was surprised that when I watched the movie it didn't come nearly as close to having the same effect on me.

Perhaps that's because the trailer in this case is really just a condensed version of the film and consequently everything just seemed a little bit stretched out in the film itself.

That said, it is unquestionably a solid biographical drama and one that features a great central performance from Eddie Redmayne.

I just wish I could have connected more than I did with the story & characters so overall 7/10 feels like a fair & appropriate score...

[RevKeith39]

Not quite as good as some people have said, in my view. The centre of the film is not Hawking but his first wife. That works well, but the narrative is conventional in form and rather pedestrian. I didn't really learn anything I didn't know already. Performances were uniformally excellent. More of the science would have helped, I feel. The religion angle was based around the last line of his most famous book, so appeared rather forced. All in all, very good, solid film.....but a tad dull. 7/10

[raj101]

Thought I would check this out before I started to feel like decking those increasingly annoying eddie-redmayne-grin Theory of Everything posters that have appeared everywhere. And I was pleasantly surprised.

pretty good, but with a few genius killer scenes added - pen scene?

The woman with the shot bright pink cheeks playing Mrs H (but tonnes of makeup here to hide them lol) didn't age at all though, bit of an oversight, perhaps miscast as she looks naturally quite young. Felt sorry for Mrs H, though I also wanted to know what motivated her to do what she did (other than cop out "love") because its hard to believe anyone would put up with what was essentially a full time care job for years on end basically fresh out of her teens. Absoutely full marks to her for doing so, but I just require more of an explanation for what motivated her, after all she wasn't a trained nurse and was well off enough to pick a comfortable life avoiding anything to do with illness until much later in her life. Without more motive, its hard to believe because believe me its a truck load of work!

Redmayne was freakishly good. Top banana to Prof Hawkings though, for providing such awesome material in character.

my other fav bits were the danny boyle-sque electric rewind ending. In fact I'd quite like to have seen Boyles interpretation of this move, he'd fill it will dazzly bits like that and he'd have more deliberate fun with the atheism/God parts. I kept imagining what Boyle would have done with each scene whilst watching lol.

The movie also yields a tour of Cambridge Uni life without having to commit to 4 years in that Godforbidden place surrounded by public schoolers and cruddy, overpriced events, so that's a bonus.

[Cortone]

"Felt sorry for Mrs H, though I also wanted to know what motivated her to do what she did (other than cop out "love") because its hard to believe anyone would put up with what was essentially a full time care job for years on end basically fresh out of her teens. Absoutely full marks to her for doing so, but I just require more of an explanation for what motivated her, after all she wasn't a trained nurse and was well off enough to pick a comfortable life avoiding anything to do with illness until much later in her life. Without more motive, its hard to believe because believe me its a truck load of work!

Surprised by your comment above - as you seem to understand that it is a truck load of work. Mrs H was told not to expect him to live long, there was a deep relationship between them, and also they had a family together. It's not easy to walk away under these circumstances.

However, I guess you just do what you feel you have to do, especially when the alternatives are so dramatic.

[raj101]

Surprised by your comment above - as you seem to understand that it is a truck load of work. Mrs H was told not to expect him to live long, there was a deep relationship between them, and also they had a family together. It's not easy to walk away under these circumstances.

I don't think you do what you feel you have to do at 19/20 at university, you overtly tend to do what you've been told to do. The mere prospect of the truckload of work would surely put her off. It would be living a nightmare especially with zero experience of dealing with it. The only reason I can see her to press on with the embryonic relationship was total abject love, and/or she was simply naïve/uninformed. (Or maybe she was simply VicePrez of Christiansoc, they're usually too nice!)


At that point there is no marriage or even engagement, going by the film (which may be utterly wrong, they often are). I don't think it would be that difficult to break up with someone you have simply dated for a while, when you are choosing between years of shovelling shit, and the comforts of middle/upper class life and a comfy desk job - commitments to your family and friends would be chore enough and you'd have to neglect even them.

If you mean would she leave later on - then sure marriage knots you together. Although it actually became easier for them both to leave each other after the kids and marriage, because of circumstances.

Yeah I think you are referring to later on in their life, I get where you are coming from.

That reminds me. another thing the film underlined for me, was how utterly rubbish the university was for disabled students.

[missgotty]

Incredible story, great acting but it was quite a slow, long film to sit through.

6/10

[newdot]

Why was everything in soft focus ?

Dreary & obvious until maxine peake shows up, but minus point for Frank Leboeuf...wtf !

5/10

ps was young hawkings inspiration for Austin Powers ?

[mathew1971]

Finally caught this movie - I echo most of the positive comments on here - one of the best movies I have seen for some time.

9/10

[McG]

Not quite as good as some people have said, in my view. The centre of the film is not Hawking but his first wife. That works well, but the narrative is conventional in form and rather pedestrian. I didn't really learn anything I didn't know already. Performances were uniformally excellent. More of the science would have helped, I feel. The religion angle was based around the last line of his most famous book, so appeared rather forced. All in all, very good, solid film.....but a tad dull. 7/10

I agree with RevKeith39's comment about the film not being as good as people have said.
I was definitely slightly disappointed by the film though not by the acting by Eddie Redmayne. He did very well portraying Stephen Hawking but I didn't really learn anything new about Hawking from watching this film. The film was a superficial look at his life in his earlier years and then a rushed end of the film bringing the story up to date.
Marks 8/10