A somber, yet powerfully optimistic biopic

Rating: 9/10 (22 August 2019)

James Marsh directs The Theory of Everything, which tells the life of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and his longtime partner Jane Hawking.
Eddie Redmayne 'becomes' Stephen hawking in an Oscar winning performance, where he perfectly captures the intelligence, charm and unfortunate torment that his real life counterpart carries with him. Redmayne truly embodies someone who suffers from motor neurone disease and the effects it has on a person. Through his mannerisms, posture and speech, he delivers a captivating performance.
I respect that the film doesn't focalise Stephen Hawking completely, and takes the time to focus on those around him, and the struggles they endure through Stephen's fall to disability. Jane Hawking played by Felicity Jones is great in this film, and being someone closely tied to a mother of children with disabilities, I highly resonated with the struggle of responsibility in looking after loved ones who need care, and needing help yourself.
I'm glad to see that the story doesn't heavily rely on sympathy for Stephen Hawking to make the audience care for him. Though the film is definitely somber, it displays a surprising amount of optimism and humour, of course due to the personal attributes of Stephen Hawking himself, and the great success he found in his downfall.
Visually the film is nothing spectacular, and actually features an unfocused dream-like effect at times that doesn't quite hit the mark for me. On the contrary there are some very well shot scenes that emphasise the drama occurring on screen, rendering events that much more impactful.
This biopic on Stephen Hawking is one I feel is hard to watch, though very important in context of what we know about cosmology today and everything he devoted to the knowledge of our kind. Great respect is paid to the professor through heartfelt writing and superb performances with great chemistry between Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. A must see for everyone.