The Theory of Everything

This is the story of a man that it would be fair to say is an international icon. When Stephen Hawking studied at Cambridge he was almost seen as a lazy, layabout. He spent his days goofing off and passing time listening to music and drinking. This changed however when he meet Jane Wilde and was diagnosed with early onset, slow progressing ALS. He resolved to solve the hardest and most difficult question of all, where did we come from? Jane a devout Christian is supportive of his studies and helps him as his condition worsens and they are pushed to the brink.

To understand how a mainstream story of a cultural icon is built, we must at first understand that it must be adapted. It must be air brushed, sculpted and then made acceptable for us to consume. This is the lite version of Stephen Hawking life and do not doubt that. We have to understand that sometimes to get the permissions and stories we want to hear, somethings are lost. A soft and gentle bio pic that does invest time in its subjects but does little to explore the more harsher and real elements of married life. This needs to be announced early on in this review, as it reflects why my judgements are positive. I understand the problem of telling a story diplomatically. Marsh has made this film to balance the truth with more palatable ideas of genius and aspiration. He did the same in Man on a Wire but did explore lives in more detail and with more truth. We have a lot kept at a distance. We don't talk about the affair between Hawking and the nurse, who has been given excessive bad press as being a vulture or manipulative. These are all nodded toward but left to float in the air like a piece of trash.Reasons are many as to why he has done this and as you read on please understand, Marsh has done what is right.

The reality is we need to say that the love story between eminent physicist Stephen Hawking and his future wife Jane Wilde Hawking is not a magical romance. It is a story of hope and resilience and this is why it deserves so much praise. Marsh has given the audience what was required. We also have two great performances and in particular Redmanye is awesome in a role that could have undone him. He plays the role as if Hawking wasn't such a massive cultural icon. Theories of our creation have often been posed and suggested across time and we know many of them have been proven false or inconclusive. What we have here is what we had in the excellent A Beautiful Mind. The theory is actually an aside to the whole and it is better that you avoid all the extras and the film content and instead do some independent research. The film is well shot, with a superb transfer on the blu ray worth the price alone. Sound and script are fine but play a game of running down the middle and avoiding too much controversy. It is a delight to know that Hawkings wicked humor comes across.....

Blu ray contains

Commentary
Deleted scenes
Featurette