Hello everyone!
Back to my movies from the seaside section (this could probably be its own subtitle, I think ...), since I'm done with immediate movies at least for this week. I still have plans to watch Insurgent at some point (hopefully next week? Maybe?), but I'm defintiely distracted all around with the shows that are now in full swing and giving anything out of a movie cinema a run for their money.
The Theory of Everything wasn't a movie I would have originally wanted to watch, because unlike some people, Eddie Redmayne isn't exactly one of my favourite actors. Well, at least not yet, maybe he'll get there, you know?
But because I was going to watch The Imitation Game eventually, and because the Oscar race this year had been pretty much between Redmayne and Cumberbatch, I thought, why not? It could be educational and fun. Stephen Hawking is a living legend, after all.
So, here we go.
Essentially, this is a biographic drama about the life Hawking had from the time of his early diagnosis with motor neuron disease, in his case a rare form of ALS (I will admit, I had to note this down to look it up later as I'm not as familiar with the topic as I probably should be) to his later years, chronicling everything important inbetween.
That sounds really vague and out there, but you have to know that, most probably, his name isn't one too many people haven't heard about.
Even *I* have, and according to my friends I live in a medieval village, or under a rock haha.
Stephen starts out as a brilliant student who's having trouble pinpointing the exact theme of his doctorate, which he does eventually figure out, and from there his famous cosmology theory is explained.
But the main focus of the movie isn't his brilliance or his work; it focuses instead on his relationship with Jane (Felicity Jones), who later becomes his wife, and the trials and tribulations they face together as a couple as his body begins to fail him. They have three children, despite this, even though his family seems to think that at least one of them might have been sired by Jane's supposed lover, Jonathan (Charlie Cox), who leads the church choir. I could understand the speculation, but what I didn't understand was how little Stephen's family actually knew Jane to think she'd be capable of cheating on her husband. Jonathan was actually a big help to the couple, although that stopped after these allegations, and Jane was once again on her own.
It was difficult for me to watch how much Jane had to overcome literally on her own as Stephen was incapable of doing things himself, and if she had outside help people thought she'd taken a lover.
At this point, however, Stephen could still speak; but taking ill with pneumonia later, he loses this ability and they have to introduce a speaking machine into his life so that he can continue to communicate with the world. Along with this comes a linguist, Elaine, who he eventually leaves Jane for, the one point in the movie I was really angry with him.
I probably have this from my own home; my paternal grandparents didn't have an ideal situation, but my grandmother never once thought of leaving, neither did my grandfather. And I might also be a hopeless romantic at heart. Jane had done EVERYTHING for Stephen and yet he still decided to go with Elaine ...
Although on the other hand, he did free her, in a way, to be with Jonathan in the end. Which, I suppose, was a noble thing to do instead of tying her down to him. And apparently, I didn't get the feeling that she wanted out of the marriage, as is stated in real life for her. Hmm.
The movie ends with an invitation to meet the Queen, and a rather funny last line that Stephen turned down the offered knighthood; that he and Jane remain friends; and that they have three grandchildren.
It was a movie that received mixed emotions from me, but definitely high praise for Redmayne who really, really nailed the role of Hawking. He deserved the Oscar for best male role in a movie, absolutely.
But it's not the kind of movie I would want to watch more than one time.
xx
*images not mine
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