A soapy tale of devotion to science, wealth and the help of others

Rating: 2/10 (22 February 2015)

A ten star reviewer actually said: ...these two....had a marriage full of trust and devotion to one another.
What movie exactly was he watching? Full of trust and devotion that is until Hawking had a blazing affair with his married care giver/assistant and fled from his wife and kids to marry her. The film also depicts his wife having her own fling.
Devotion to science yes but as others have pointed out the empty chair in the room is science itself, left out in the cold. We learn little about his scientific genius. We see awards, invitations to award ceremonies etc.but almost no real essence of his achievements, what they are, how they have altered our thinking and understanding of the universe. Suddenly he mentions god, why? Suddenly he abandons his early theory, why? How? When?
I say devotion to wealth because this is how and why he survived when almost all others with his disease have perished early on. His fame and fortune helped provide him the best 24/7 care possible plus electronic gizmos that gave him the gift of communication which allowed him keep working and hence keep his sanity.
The help of others: We see so many stories of devastating illness and how films depict people's successful efforts to overcome i.e. special Olympics. Sadly, Stephen's illness is so devastating that there is never an issue of recovery, of regaining speech, movement etc. He can and does survive but we can only witness a progressive disease that never lets up, even for an instant. Sadly, most of the film hammers us with the step by step progression of this horrid disease and its sequele. Unlike other man/woman conquer disease stories Stephen was never able to overcome the physical damage to his body. Luckily, his brain, his genius survived.
We watch the same relationship soap opera many have lived, namely,a family under great stress that succumbs via his wife's inability first to cope with his care and next have an affair whilst Stephen is having his own affair with married women until he leaves his wife and kids for a grass-is-greener divorce and re-marriage that lasts all of about six years.
Once science was left out of this film we are left with little more than a very well acted (cheers to the Oscar) daytime soap.