Simply brilliant, just like its principal subject matter

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2014)

Great Britain's Professor Stephen Hawking - What hasn't been said about the greatest living thinker on the planet right now?
I've known about Professor Hawking for a long time now and have long admired him, but just two years ago I finally read his 1988 best-seller "A Brief History of Time" and loved it - even if much of Hawking's theories (involving the search for the true beginnings of the universe and so-called "Hawking radiation") went way over my head, despite his attempts to actually simplify his work for the lay person.
James Marsh's new 2014 biopic "The Theory of Everything" is about 25 years in Hawking's early life, from 1963 to 1988, much of it based off his ex-wife Jane Hawking's book "Traveling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen." The film itself is more about their relationship than it is Hawking's ground-breaking work in theoretical physics. He's played here to perfection by Eddie Redmayne (who I'm convinced spent a lot of time with the real-life Professor Hawking and copied his mannerisms almost exactly), while Jane is played by Felicity Jones, and it is just as much her story as it is his; her attempts to understand and love him are almost vicarious for the experience of the audience. "The Theory of Everything" of course also includes his crippling diagnosis of motor neuron disease (ALS), which left him with a life expectancy of just two years - but he's obviously still here more than half a century after receiving that life-changing diagnosis.
"The Theory of Everything" is a beautiful, marvelous film - so much better than the usual Hollywood stuff, even though this film is very much so-called "Oscar bait." But damn it, I loved it. I've always wondered what a screen adaptation of Professor Hawking's life would look like, and now we have it. I guess a more straight-forward look at his career would have to wait, or we can just continue reading his books (of which there are several). But if we want to get an idea of who he is as a person, look no further than "The Theory of Everything."
10/10