Lighter Portrait

Rating: 6/10 (2 March 2015)

The Theory of Everything is a biopic of Stephen Hawking, which seems more focused on his relationship with his wife, Jane Wilde, and the chronicle of how he deals with Lou Gehrig's disease. The movie takes an easy drama within these events, by simply just watching how Hawking can still move forward on his research and with his family, despite of his condition. Even with a terrific performance from its lead actor, the movie just walks from one time to another, hardly examining anything else complex within the story other than the basic summary on screen. It can still feel engaging, but it's impossible to think how else compelling this movie could have been.
The story juggles with many issues; it is about Hawking's study of his theories, it is a love story that is slowly fading its romance and it is a sad drama of the scientist's fight of his illness. The film doesn't have an exact focus on its story, it keeps trading from one conflict to another, but doesn't necessarily lead to any remarkable buildup. Maybe at the parts where Hawking's body is falling apart, the movie becomes completely compelling, but at the other subplots: the scientific side is likely used to define his career, but it only hints a more interesting topic. The love story, which happens to be the most important part since it aims to be the core of the entirety, is mostly displayed for a typical drama that doesn't go beyond showcasing the tragedy and some important information of each time.
The direction is at least decent, it settles with the characters nicely, and also picks some random style when it comes to the cinematography. It all looks stunningly bright, making it visually pretty. But there's nothing else memorable in the filmmaking other than that. The acting however is the best thing to merit, specifically Eddie Redmayne. People would be more focused on his portrayal of the physical struggle because that clearly is what makes it truly affecting and that is one tough thing to achieve in this role and he's done it terrifically while still capturing a personality. The rest of the acting are all pretty natural enough to keep things entertaining on screen.
The Theory of Everything is alright, but it felt like there's something more to explore in this biopic. It does work at being an easy inspirational drama that pictures the unfortunate moments of his life, leading to an eventual triumph. It's often gripping, but it would have been even more if it digs deeper at the themes that are filled in outside the bitterness. It's pretty hard to argue that it's bad, it's competently crafted and wondrously acted, but it still leaves a lot of intriguing questions that are only partially answered around the bright images.