Great performances, cinematography and score - but the way it skims over everything leaves it feeling superficial.

Rating: 7/10 (29 November 2014)

Since the beginning of time, a Stephen Hawking biopic was inevitable. And we also knew that it would take a hell of a performance to back it up, something in the region of Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot commitment. On a physicality level, Eddie Redmayne delivers, a star shining since 2012's Les Miserables. Unfortunately The Theory of Everything's script is so stripped down and skimmed across that it doesn't offer enough insights to satisfy intrigue. The film takes a very sentimental approach to Hawking's life from his early university days to being offered a Knighthood. It's a tough focus to have on a doomed romance. What is it trying to say? It is trying to exemplify resilience in the face of hardship? Can't be, they broke up. It's not exactly a matter-of-fact approach either with its expressive cinematography and sweeping score. Director James Marsh is known for a heightened experience with his dramatic and intense Oscar winning documentary Man On Wire.
Granted, despite lacking an arc to speak of, Redmayne is thoroughly impressive. To imagine him getting up everyday then sitting in that chair and getting under Hawking's skin takes some skill. He works on a transformative basis, but that has limited value when the material is limited. It's the way that his chemistry with Felicity Jones works. I've liked Jones since Cemetery Junction and I'm glad she's getting some mainstream attention but since the warmth of Junction, she's worked best and most confidently in her icy mode. Her acclaim is justified here, but it's sporadic. She's not consistent, every scene she needs to built to a crescendo rather than holding it throughout the film. When she's engaged as a woman struggling under the weight on her shoulders, she's great, meeting Redmayne's match. But the way that all the actors are working together, including notable supporting performances from Charlie Cox and David Thewlis, they internalize their emotions to the point that only superficialities remain.
You can see that they minimise dialogue to let the moment speak for itself, but it's overdone, relied on too much, and the dialogue that gets let out is too often a piece of trite. If it wasn't for the honesty of the performances, it would drag the whole film down. Nevertheless, I defend that it's not a 'standard' biopic, if for its creative visuals with the frames drowned in coloured lights and wide lenses distorting the frame. There's clearly a lot of effort put into every scene, even if it's slightly misguided emotionally. The highlight is absolutely Johann Johannson's beautiful score, the antithesis of his ambient work for Prisoners. It does half the work to capture its beautiful moments, of which the film has a few, but none that successful jerk enough sincere tears. If only The Theory of Everything gave itself enough room to breathe so I could get emotionally invested, but there will be inevitable Oscar nominations in near future. It's great to see Marsh's whole-hearted attempt at fiction, but hopefully he'll take on something perhaps less ambitious and just as intimate on take 2.
7/10