~Tuesday~ Bob and I caught the 7:00 screening of The Theory of Everything, for which Eddie Redmayne won the 2015 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama, and an Oscar-nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role, whose winner is yet to be decided.
We saw it at the Colony Theater, and we were the only two people in the audience, which made me wonder if a movie theater has to show a movie anyway if no one is in the audience. I supposed it has to at least start it, in case anyone comes in late.
The synopsis
In the 1960s, Cambridge University student and future physicist Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) falls in love with fellow collegian Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones).
At 21, Hawking learns that he has motor neuron disease. Despite this—and with Jane at his side—he begins an ambitious study of time, of which he has very little left, according to his doctor.
He and Jane defy terrible odds and break new ground in the fields of medicine and science, achieving more than either could hope to imagine.
The trailer
My thoughts and observations
- I very much enjoyed this film.
- Themes touched on:
- Time, and how contextually relative it is
- Love and attraction—mentally and physically
- Caregiving
- Relationship sustainability
- Assumptions about diseases and the diseased
- Brilliance, academia, recognition, and perseverance
- The timeless conflict between God and science
- Technology’s role in rehabilitation and re-integration into society
- I’m sure it must have been exhausting for Eddie Redmayne to play this role.
- I found myself thinking about the recent announcement by a longtime local TV news anchor, Larry Stogner, that he has ALS.
- The actor who played Hawking’s professor and mentor reminded me of someone for a good portion of the movie, and I was relieved when it finally occurred to me who it was.
- I thought Charlie Cox, playing Jonathan Hellyer Jones, was beautiful—inside and out.
- I was absolutely stunned at the end to learn that Stephen Hawking is still alive. Obviously, I didn’t do any reading up on him before the film.
- Overall, two thumbs up, and I recommend it—if you go for this sort of movie. YMMV, of course.
Have you seen this movie? If so, what did you think of it?
Note: Comments may contain spoilers. You might want to skip them if you haven’t seen the movie and worry about that sort of thing.