Ten stars for the performances, five stars for the biopic bushwa

Rating: 7/10 (25 February 2015)

Eddie Redmayne's transformation is certainly amazing, Felicity Jones is perfect as the beleaguered Mrs. H, and the geeky Cambridge courtship scenes are charming, but it's harder to dramatize the breakdown of a marriage or the birth of a scientific theory. Director James Marsh has to resort to cinematic shorthand—Jane tries to concentrate on her thesis while Hawking zooms around in his wheelchair, surrounded by shrieking kids—and unconvincing biopic bushwa—Hawking stares at a sputtering log in the fireplace, and the theory of Hawking radiation (emitted by black holes) is born.
The script's based on Jane Hawking's memoir, and the film briefly comes alive for her platonic romance with the widowed choir director (Charlie Cox) who became her second husband when Hawking took up with a vivacious nurse (Maxine Peake!). The heart wants what it wants, but that makes for an inconclusive ending for this watchable but uninvolving film.