The minutiae of a great man's domestic life

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2015)

This film seems to be a simple adaptation of Jane Wilde Hawking's memoir of her 25 years of marriage to Hawking. So it starts with their meeting and ends with their separation.
The film centres itself almost exclusively on the minutiae of their married life and coping with Stephen's disability. As such it is a real tear jerker and at times their lives together seem to be an unremitting tragedy.
I found the acting impeccable from the stars and supporting characters and the film evokes life in and around Cambridge university during the Sixties and Seventies well, quite nostalgically.
Jane's religious faith compared to Stephen's atheism is a thread throughout which I felt added nothing to the plot, yet what is really uplifting in the film is the story of the simple heroism required in dealing with such an awful disability, whether you are one of the human race's greatest minds or not.
There is little in the story to help us understand why Hawking is such a shining star in the world of science and I felt this was the movie's weak point. It is simply a given that we already know and accept he is one of the greats and for that reason we will be content to view the emotional details of his domestic life. That said the film often feels warm and intimate, that you have been invited in, like a talk through two decades of a family's photo albums given by them in their sitting room.
Jane and Stephen come across as absolute heroes and it is their example and the feeling of being invited into a life which made the film worthwhile for me.