Daniela Coe-McNamara
Staff Writer
The wondrous and intriguing relationship between one of the most renown physicists of our time, Stephen Hawking, and his wife, Jane Hawking, is explored in the recently released film, “The Theory of Everything.”
The movie, based largely on the memoir, “Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen Hawking,” written by Jane Hawking, reveals many intimate details about the endless struggle of the Hawkings’ lives. With Stephen Hawking’s incredible ingenious abilities in psychics, along with his developing motor neuron disease, Jane Hawking recaps on the effort required to maintain their relationship for the 30 years they were married. “The Theory of Everything” places the Hawkings, an otherwise prestigious and unattainable duo, in a more personable light as it investigates the tribulations of marriage, infidelity, family, and disease.
The film begins with the exciting first years of university school, where Stephen Hawking, played by Eddie Redmayne, and Jane Hawking, played by Felicity Jones, attended Cambridge University and met for the first time. The air of mystery and possibilities lingers as the two make their love connection, and it is immediately apparent that the two will have a passionate relationship. With scenes involving much romance, including one scene with a magnificent firework show, director James Marsh truly creates an on-screen romance that defies barriers and portrays such a love only two people who have been through so much could have. The ability to capture the love between the Hawkings is from both actors, with their raw emotion poured into the film, as well as the director, who created the romantic relationship that makes hearts skip a beat.
But, things soon take a tumultuous turn in “The Theory of Everything,” as Stephen Hawking learns of his debilitating motor neuron disease, or ALS, and is given two years to live. The overall tone of impending death fills the air, for although Hawking’s disease is known about in real life, the sadness accompanied by Redmayne’s ability to portray such an intelligent yet condemned man creates sympathy for this poor genius. Redmayne fully takes on the role of Hawking, particularly in his state of physical disease as he throws himself into the pain and suffering accompanied by ALS, as well as his incredible intelligence in his physics theories.
To add on to the terrible time, Stephen Hawking, fearful of this disease and its effects on him and those around him, decides to distance himself from Jane, the wonderful woman he has began to fall in love with. This begins the true love story of the Hawkings, as Jane demands that Stephen still speak to her, as she will not give him up. Jane, played by Jones, is portrayed as a strong woman with beliefs of her own, instead of simply the side character to the story of Stephen Hawking’s life. Jones’ ability to make a place for herself on screen creates her own leading role in “The Theory of Everything,” when some would believe she would only play a small role in such an outstanding figure’s life story.
The film goes on to explore the detrimental effects of ALS, as it takes over both of the Hawkings’ lives with its incomprehensibly horrifying physical effects. The disease also takes a toll on the emotional relationship between the two, as they begin to drift apart after years of marriage and two children. The heartbreak accompanied by this drift leaves the audience regrettably disappointed by the infidelity of both Hawkings, as Stephen develops a relationship with a nurse after Jane has left with an old family friend of theirs, Jonathan, a man who had helped the family throughout the years. The genuine depiction of the heartache that accompanies both marriage and disease leaves the Hawkings’ relationship as a previously passionate romance trampled in the dirt by the travails of life.
“The Theory of Everything” rated PG-13 and playing in theaters nationwide.
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