An Eloquent Screenplay

Rating: 7/10 (22 February 2015)

Screenwriter Anthony McCarten figures out what he wants to say towards the end, and even if his conclusions are somewhat literal, it helps immeasurably to bring "The Theory Of Everything" to its warm conclusion. McCarten's eloquent screenplay (based on Jane Hawking's book) and director James Marsh seem to want to match Stephen Hawking's theories about time's beginnings and, at the end, by running the films's main events in reverse, they cleverly compare the relationship between Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) and his first wife, Jane (Felicity Jones) to the big bang theory. McCarten's most interesting topic is perhaps the oddest when it comes to a biography of Stephen Hawking--sexual infidelity--and though he answers his questions about it childishly (he equates unfaithfulness with deathly illness in order to lay on the guilt), it's somewhat refreshing to find a film that eschews the traditional hagiographic view of romance when icons are involved. Redmayne and Jones are good enough, though you get the sense that there's no real degree of difficulty in their acting; in fact, as far as Redmayne is concerned, there's the distinct feel that acting is all he's doing.