Four stars. Rated PG-13, and too harshly, for dramatic intensity and mild suggestive material
By Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 12.5.14
It’s necessary, up front, to
recognize that this film is adapted from Jane Wilde Hawking’s 1999 memoir, Music to Move the Stars: A Life with Stephen (extensively updated and
re-published in 2008, as Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen).
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| During Cambridge's annual May Dance, Stephen (Eddie Redmayne) can't quite get into the spirit of the event itself — for openers, he refuses to dance! — but his goofy charm nonetheless makes an increasingly strong impact on Jane (Felicity Jones). |
We therefore cannot be surprised
by the saintly hue that Felicity Jones brings to her portrayal of Jane:
devoted, compassionate and (particularly) patient beyond comprehension. To be
sure, selfless caregivers certainly exist in real life: quiet heroes who rarely
receive the admiration they so richly deserve. And there’s no doubt that Jane
Hawking must’ve had a very hard life, during her early years with a husband
succumbing to motor neuron disease (MND, which is related to ALS, commonly
known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease).
But no displays of impatience or
hostility, no raging against the universe, no signs of crumbling on Jane’s
part? Even if we acknowledge traditional British reserve, that’s a bit hard to
swallow here.
Hard, perhaps, but not impossible
... thanks to James Marsh’s thoughtful, sensitive direction, and the
incandescent performances by Jones and most particularly Eddie Redmayne. The
latter looks, moves and sounds so much like Stephen Hawking, that at times it’s
hard not to believe it’s actually him on the screen.
Most crucially, Redmayne captures
Hawking’s goofy grin, sparkling eyes and irrepressible, Puckish sense of humor.
After the MND robs the man of his limbs — and, eventually, even his ability to
speak — Redmayne nonetheless continues to convey a wealth of emotion with faint
head movements, raised eyebrows, a twitch of that famous smile, and his
darting, ever-inquisitive eyes that miss nothing.
We’ve not seen an actor so
thoroughly inhabit a physically challenged role since Mathieu Amalric’s
portrayal of Jean-Dominique Bauby, in 2007’s equally fine The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Bauby’s life changed in an
instant, though, whereas Hawking — and his friends, colleagues and family —
endured the heartbreak of his slow, debilitating slide into utter helplessness.
But we begin in happier times.
It’s 1963, where Stephen is a cosmology student at Cambridge University: the
mischievous, easily distracted member of a doctoral team being supervised by
famed British physicist Dennis W. Sciama (David Thewlis, in a nicely
understated performance). Stephen’s apparent disconnection from real-world requirements
is a source of constant amusement to roommate and best friend Brian (Harry
Lloyd), who probably has to remind his buddy to eat and sleep on a regular
basis.
