Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Eddie Redmayne | ... | Stephen Hawking | |
Felicity Jones | ... | Jane Hawking | |
Tom Prior | ... | Robert Hawking - Age 17 | |
![]() |
Sophie Perry | ... | Lucy Hawking - Age 14 |
![]() |
Finlay Wright-Stephens | ... | Timothy Hawking - Age 8 |
Harry Lloyd | ... | Brian | |
Alice Orr-Ewing | ... | Diana King | |
David Thewlis | ... | Dennis Sciama | |
![]() |
Thomas Morrison | ... | Carter |
Michael Marcus | ... | Ellis | |
![]() |
Gruffudd Glyn | ... | Rees |
Paul Longley | ... | Barman - Rowing Club | |
Emily Watson | ... | Beryl Wilde | |
![]() |
Guy Oliver-Watts | ... | George Wilde |
Simon McBurney | ... | Frank Hawking |
The Theory of Everything is the story of the most brilliant and celebrated physicist of our time, Stephen Hawking, and Jane Wilde the arts student he fell in love with whilst studying at Cambridge in the 1960s. Little was expected from Stephen Hawking, a bright but shiftless student of cosmology, given just two years to live following the diagnosis of a fatal illness at 21 years of age. He became galvanized, however, by the love of fellow Cambridge student, Jane Wilde, and he went on to be called the successor to Einstein, as well as a husband and father to their three children. Over the course of their marriage as Stephen's body collapsed and his academic renown soared, fault lines were exposed that tested the lineaments of their relationship and dramatically altered the course of both of their lives. Written by The Times
We are all familiar with the story and with Steven Hawking. His groundbreaking work 'A brief History of Time' and devastating disabilities propelled him irrevocably into the public consciousness and immortal fame.
But few of us could understand the complexities of his personal life and the shocking divorce in 1990 from his long sacrificing wife of more than 25 years. Indeed that episode served to darken his reputation in the minds of many, including myself, who felt ill at ease with anyone who could leave a partner who had done so much for him just at the long awaited moment when international fame and recognition finally arrived.
This wonderful production, so well scripted and paced throughout, serves to explain that vital anomaly in Hawking's life. And it is made all the more poignant as it is based upon the account written by his wife who has borne so much.
But it is the breathtaking performance of Eddie Redmayne as Hawking that simply blasted this film into an extraordinary level. It is difficult enough to mimic so famous a person as Hawking and it is even more difficult to portray so accurately the debilitating and gradually increasing effects of Motor Neuron Disease. But to transmit so clearly the profound emotions and inner suffering that Hawking must have experienced in his agonizing journey was a performance that left me quite speechless and at times in uncontrollable tears.
It would be a travesty of the industry if Eddie Redmayne is not nominated for an Oscar after this performance. And to my mind it was a work of art that simply cannot be equaled let alone beaten.
Have a good handkerchief ready to hand.