In 1963,Stephen Hawking, a post-graduate astrophysics student at theUniversity of Cambridge, begins a relationship with literature studentJane Wilde. Although Stephen is intelligent, both his friends and academics are concerned about his lack of a thesis topic. After attending a lecture byRoger Penrose onblack holes with his supervisor, Prof.Dennis Sciama, Stephen speculates that these may have been part of the creation of the universe and so decides upon his thesis.
However, soon Stephen's muscles begin to fail, causing him to have decreased coordination with his body. After a bad fall, he is diagnosed with early-onset progressive degenerativemotor neurone disease (MND) that will eventually leave him unable to move, swallow, and even breathe. With no treatment options, he is given approximately two years to live. The doctor assures Stephen that his brain will not be affected, so his thoughts and intelligence will remain intact, but eventually, he will be unable to communicate them. Stephen develops severe depression, becoming reclusive and focusing on his work. Jane confesses she loves him and that she intends to stay even as his condition worsens. They marry and have their first son, Robert. Once his walking ability deteriorates, he begins using a wheelchair.
After the Hawkings have their daughterLucy, Jane becomes frustrated having to focus on the children, as well as Stephen's slowly degenerating health while his fame increases, all at the expense of her academic work. Stephen tells her he will understand if she needs help.
In the 1970s, Jane joins a church choir, where she meets and becomes close friends with Jonathan, awidower. She employs him as a piano teacher for Robert, and Jonathan befriends the entire family, helping Stephen with his illness, supporting Jane, and playing with the children. When Jane gives birth to another son, Timothy, Stephen's mother asks her if the baby is Jonathan's. This causes outrage and Jonathan is appalled, but when he and Jane are alone, they admit the depth of their feelings for one another. He distances himself from the family, but Stephen tells him that Jane needs him.
As theLucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, Stephen goes on to develop a theory about the visibility of black holes that they emitradiation and becomes a world-renowned physicist.
In the 1980s, while attending an opera performance inBordeaux on holiday, Stephen falls ill and is rushed to a hospital. The doctor informs Jane that he haspneumonia and thetracheotomy he needs to survive will leave him mute. She agrees to the surgery. Stephen learns to use aspelling board and uses it to communicate with his new nurse, Elaine Mason. He receives a computer with a built-invoice synthesizer and uses it to write a book,A Brief History of Time, which becomes an international best-seller.
In the late 1980s, Stephen tells Jane he has been invited to the United States to accept an award and will take Elaine with him. Jane faces the fact that the marriage has not been working, saying she "did her best", and they agree todivorce. While Stephen has fallen in love with Elaine, Jane and Jonathan reunite.
Stephen goes to deliver a public lecture where he sees a student drop a pen. He imagines getting up to return it, almost crying at the reminder of how his disease has affected him. He then gives a speech telling audiences to pursue their ambitions despite the harsh reality of life: "While there's life, there is hope."
An extended closing series of select moments from the film, shown in reverse, back to the moment Stephen first saw Jane – the reversal is reminiscent of Stephen's research methodology of reversing time to understand the beginning of the universe.
An epilogue reveals thatA Brief History of Time has sold over ten million copies worldwide; Stephen declined an offer of aknighthood and has no plans to retire; Jane earned herPhD in Medieval Spanish Poetry and married Jonathan; and both Stephen and Jane remain friends, sharing three grandchildren.
"That's really the essence of the story, it's a very unusual love story in a very strange environment, a very strange sort of landscape, and that is I think the abiding theme of the film. It is how these two characters, these two real people transcend all the complications and curveballs that life throws at them."
ScreenwriterAnthony McCarten had been interested in Hawking since reading his seminal 1988 bookA Brief History of Time. In 2004, McCarten read Jane Hawking's first memoir,Music to Move the Stars: A Life with Stephen of 1999,[12] and subsequently began writing a screenplay adaptation of the book, with no guarantees in place. He met with Jane at her home numerous times to discuss the project. After multiple redrafts, incorporating details from her second memoirTravelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen of 2007,[13] he was introduced to producerLisa Bruce via their mutual ICM agent, Craig Bernstein in 2009.[14]
Bruce spent three years with McCarten, further convincing Jane Hawking to agree to afilm adaptation of her book, with Bruce stating, "It was a lot of conversation, many glasses of sherry, and many pots of tea".[15] On 18 April 2013,James Marsh was confirmed to direct the film, with the shooting being based inCambridge, and at other locations in the United Kingdom,[citation needed] withEddie Redmayne courted to fill the male lead of the piece.[16] On 23 June 2013, it was revealed thatFelicity Jones was confirmed to play the film's female lead role opposite Redmayne.[17][18] On 8 October 2013, it was confirmed thatEmily Watson andDavid Thewlis had joined the cast[19] and that Working Title'sTim Bevan,Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce, andAnthony McCarten would be producing the piece.[20]
Marsh had studied archival images to give the film its authenticity, stating, "When we had photographs and documentary footage of Stephen that related to our story, we tried to reproduce them as best we could".[21] Redmayne met withHawking himself, commenting, "Even now, when he's unable to move, you can still see such effervescence in his eyes". He described portraying Hawking on-screen as a "hefty" challenge, adding that, "The real problem with making a film is of course you don't shoot chronologically. So it was about having to really try and chart his physical deterioration [so] you can jump into it day-to-day, whilst at the same time keeping this spark and wit and humour that he has".[21]
Redmayne spent six months researching Hawking's life, watching every piece of interview footage he could find of him.[22] He studied Hawking's accent and speech patterns under dialect coachJulia Wilson-Dickson to prepare for the role.[23] Marsh stated that what Redmayne had to do was not easy. "He had to take on enormous amounts of difficult preparation, as well as embracing the difficult physicality of the role. It's not just doing a disability. It's actually charting the course of an illness that erodes the body, and the mind has to project out from that erosion", he said. He added that Hawking gave him his blessing, and also revealed that, "[Hawking's] response was very positive, so much so that he offered to lend his voice, the real voice that he uses. The voice you hear in the latter part of the story is in fact Stephen's actual electronic voice as he uses it", he said.[11] It was revealed to theToronto International Film Festival (TIFF) audience that as the lights came up at a recent screening, a nurse had wiped a tear from Hawking's cheek.[22]
Jane Hawking, speaking onBBC Radio 4'sWoman's Hour, talked of meeting Jones several times while the latter prepared for the role.[24] When Hawking saw the finished film, she was amazed to see that Jones had incorporated her mannerisms and speech patterns into her performance.[24]
Prior to the start of principal photography,Working Title had begun shooting on the lawn in front of theNew Court building from 23 September 2013 to 27 September 2013; they filmed the CambridgeMay Ball scene, set in1963.[25] On 24 September 2013, scenes were filmed atSt John's College,The Backs inQueen's Road, and Queen's Green.[26] The New Court lawn andKitchen Bridge were featured places included in the location filming.
Principal photography began on 8 October 2013, with the location filming at theUniversity of Cambridge, and at other places in Cambridgeshire and across the United Kingdom.[27] The May Ball scene was also the last of the outdoor shoots,[when?] with filming in a lecture theatre the following day, and the remaining filming completed in the studio over the final five weeks of production.[28]
The music that plays over the final scene of Hawking and his family in the garden and the reverse-flashback is "The Arrival of the Birds", composed and played byThe Cinematic Orchestra, originally from the soundtrack to the 2008 nature documentaryThe Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos.
During editing, filmmakers tried to remake Hawking's synthesised voice, but it did not turn out as they wanted. Hawking enjoyed the film enough that he granted them permission to use his own synthesised voice, which is heard in the final film.[32]
The film takes various dramatic liberties with the history it portrays. Writing for the film blog of UK daily newspaperThe Guardian, Michelle Dean noted:
The Theory of Everything's marketing materials will tell you it is based on Jane Hawking's memoir of her marriage, a book published in the UK asMusic to Move the Stars: A Life with Stephen,[33] and then re-issued asTravelling to Infinity. But the screenwriters rearranged the facts to suit certain dramatic conventions. And while that always happens in these based-on-a-true-story films, the scale of the departure inThe Theory of Everything is unusually wide. The film becomes almost dishonest – in a way that feels unfair to both parties, and oddly, particularly Jane Hawking herself.[34]
InSlate, L.V. Anderson wrote that "the Stephen played by Eddie Redmayne is far gentler and more sensitive" than suggested inTravelling to Infinity.[35] TheSlate article further noted that the character Brian, Hawking's closest friend at Cambridge in the film, is not based on a real individual, but rather a composite of several of his real-life friends.[35]
The film alters some of the details surrounding the beginning of Stephen and Jane's relationship, including how they met, as well as the fact that Jane knew about Stephen's disease before they started dating.[34]Slate also comments that the film underplays Hawking's stubbornness and refusal to accept outside assistance for his disorder.[35]
ForThe Guardian, Dean concluded by saying:
The movie presents the demise of their relationship as a beautiful, tear-soaked, mutually respectful conversation. Of course that didn't actually happen either. Jane's book describes a protracted breakup that comes to a head in a screaming fight on vacation. She also described devastation when Hawking announced by letter he was leaving her for his second wife, Elaine Mason. He ended up married to Mason for 10 years before that fell apart, and then he and Jane mended fences. Which, as it happens, the movie fudges too. It tries to present the rapprochement as coming when Hawking was made a Companion of Honour in 1989, but that actually happened before the couple separated.[34]
PhysicistAdrian Melott, a former student of Prof.Dennis Sciama, Hawking's doctoral supervisor portrayed in the film, strongly criticised the portrayal of Sciama in the film.[36]
In the film, when Stephen attends the opera in Bordeaux, his companion was actually Raymond LaFlamme, his PhD student.
In the film, it is explained that Stephen's voice is taken from an answering machine. It is actually the voice ofDr Dennis H. Klatt.
On 10 April 2014,Focus Features acquired the distribution rights toThe Theory of Everything in theUnited States, with the plan of a 2014 limited theatrical release.[37]Entertainment One Films picked up theCanadian distribution rights.[38] The firsttrailer of the film was released on 7 August 2014.[39][40]The Theory of Everythingpremiered at theToronto International Film Festival (TIFF)[2] on 7 September 2014,[41] where it opened in the official sidebar section, Special Presentations.[42][43] The film had alimited release in the United States on 7 November 2014,[6] expanded in successive weeks to Taiwan, Austria, and Germany,[44] ahead of the general release on 1 January 2015 in the United Kingdom, before being released throughout Europe.[45]
The Theory of Everything earned US$122,873,310 worldwide, with its biggest markets coming from North America (US$35.9 million), and the United Kingdom (US$31.9 million).[3] The film had a North American limited release on 7 November 2014; it was released in five theatres, and earned $207,000 on its opening weekend, for an average of $41,400 per theatre. The film was thenwidely released on 26 November across 802 cinemas, earning US$5 million, and debuting at No. 7 at the box office. During its five-dayUS Thanksgiving week, the film earned $6.4 million.[46]
Film review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 80% based on 273 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Part biopic, part love story,The Theory of Everything rises on James Marsh's polished direction and the strength of its two leads."[47]Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[48]
Catherine Shoard ofThe Guardian wrote, "Redmayne towers: this is an astonishing, genuinely visceral performance which bears comparison withDaniel Day-Lewis inMy Left Foot".[49] Justin Chang ofVariety remarked, "A stirring and bittersweet love story, inflected with tasteful good humor...." He continued by praising the "superb performances" from Redmayne and Jones, as well commenting very positively about Jóhannsson's score, "whose arpeggio-like repetitions and progressions at times evoke the compositions ofPhilip Glass", whilst praising John Paul Kelly's production design, and Steven Noble's costumes.[50] Leslie Felperin ofThe Hollywood Reporter remarked, "A solid, duly moving account of their complicated relationship, spanning roughly 25 years, and made with impeccable professional polish", praising Delhomme's cinematography as having "lush, intricately lit compositions", and adding "a splendor that keeps the film consistently watchable", and Jóhannsson's score as "dainty precision with a ineffable scientific quality about it".[51]The Daily Telegraph's Tim Robey granted the film a positive review, stating that, "In its potted appraisal of Hawking's cosmology,The Theory of Everything bends over backwards to speak to the layman, and relies on plenty of second-hand inspiration. But it borrows from the right sources, this theory. And that's something", while praising Redmayne's performance, McCarten's script, and Delhomme's cinematography.[52]Deadline Hollywood's Pete Hammond marked McCarten's script and Marsh's direction for praise, and of the film's Toronto reception, wrote: "To say the response here was rapturous would not be understating the enthusiasm I heard – not just from pundits, but also Academy voters with whom I spoke. One told me he came in with high expectations for a quality movie, and this one exceeded them".[53]
The film was not without its detractors. Some criticised Marsh's focus on Hawking's romantic life over his scientific achievements. Alonso Duralde ofThe Wrap stated that "Hawking's innovations and refusal to subscribe to outdated modes of thinking merely underscore the utter conventionality of his film biography".[54] Eric Kohn ofIndiewire added that "James Marsh's biopic salutes the famous physicist's commitment, but falls short of exploring his brilliant ideas".[55]Dennis Overbye of theNew York Times noted:
The movie doesn't deserve any prizes for its drive-by muddling of Dr. Hawking's scientific work, leaving viewers in the dark about exactly why he is so famous. Instead of showing how he undermined traditional notions of space and time, it panders to religious sensibilities about what his work does or does not say about the existence of God, which in fact is very little.[56]
Writing forThe Guardian's film blog, Michelle Dean argues that the film does a disservice toJane Wilde Hawking, by "rearrang[ing] the facts to suit certain dramatic conventions...The Theory of Everything is hell-bent on preserving the cliche".[57]
The film's producers, writer, director Marsh, and actors Redmayne and Jones were widely favoured for award season success.[42][53][58][59]
.jpg)
_(2).jpg)
.jpg)
