Because this is a true story that happened years ago, there are no real spoiler alerts. You can find out about Stephen Hawking's life on Wikipedia, but this shows you how it really was.
The movie basically begins with the meeting of Stephen Hawking (the brilliant Eddie Redmayne) and Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones), without too much background information on either of them. He's pursuing a doctorate of physics while she studies away at the romantic languages, hoping to do her thesis on the Iberian Peninsula. They meet and sure, it's a little awkward at first, especially since he's an atheist and she's religious, but it is a good relationship, only to be ruined by his devastating diagnosis of motor neuron disease, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease or ALS. He's given a short life-span of just two more years and does his best to push Jane away though she doesn't. Even the devastated look on her face when he struggles to play coquette, stumbling over his own two feet. But she refuses to give up, not caring that it might be limited, their time together and soon, the two are married but foolishly buy a two-story house with stairs that become his worst enemy. His condition deteriorates enough for him to have a wheelchair, though he insists that it is only temporary and then an electric wheelchair and his speech becomes worse, more muddled and harder to understand. Though Jane believes herself to be a strong person and she is, but she also feels that the children are missing out on having a real father which they sort of are. (Yes, he is able to have children despite losing control of most of his muscles, that one remains unaffected.) Her mother (Emily Watson) insists that Jane join the church choir, which she does, even though that means for an hour a week, she will be out of the house. There, she meets Jonathan (Charlie Cox), who knows what it is like to care for someone. His late wife died from leukemia. He becomes a caregiver and active surrogate father for Robert and Lucy. It is soon obvious that he and Jane have feelings for each other that when Jane has her and Stephen's third child, Timothy, Stephen's mother (Abigail Cruttenden) wonders out loud if it is really Stephen's child. Jonathan does try and keep his distance though Stephen is perfectly okay with him spending time with the family.
Jane faces yet another challenge when Stephen becomes deathly ill while overseas. She refuses to unhook the ventilator and is convinced that he will survive the trip back to England, which he does, much to the doctor's surprise. However, his survival comes at a cost, he can no longer speak. He struggles with the letter chart though, fortunately, Jane finds an excellent speech therapist, Elaine (Maxine Peake) who can actually get through to him. Elaine is even able to find a crude computer-type machine that allows him to talk again. Sort of. However, instead of being super amazed by the machine, Jane is horrified when the voice sounds American.
The ending is sort of sad. Stephen decides to bring Elaine on a trip to America and Jane is upset because he didn't even tell her about it. He has made his choice though it does break his heart. He is freeing Jane to be with Jonathan, which does happen. But he honors her with a visit with the Queen and Jane is thrilled that she had that honor, even if he refuses the knighthood. Never have the words, as he glazes out on his children, "Look what we made," have had a bigger impact, nearly bringing tears to my eyes.
Though the film is pretty straight-forward, almost making the most difficult physics understandable to the average person, it seems almost trite. I kept comparing this to A Beautiful Mind, though Hawking is so different from John Nash. Hawking is intelligent and kind-hearted and has a physical ailment while Nash was super cocky and his ailment was all in his head. Yet, the performances are amazing. Redmayne has spent months researching this role and it shows, it feels like you are actually watching the real Hawking on the screen. Jones is also great in the understated role of the wife with looks that show what she is thinking. They could both win Oscars and they would both be deserved. However, lots are comparing Redmayne's performance to the one of Daniel Day-Lewis's in My Left Foot, and though Redmayne is utterly brilliant, with every muscle twitch done to perfection, Day-Lewis was better in a better, grittier film. (If you want to watch good Redmayne film, I recommend 2011's My Week with Marilyn, forget about 2012's Les Miserables as he was forgettable in that one.) That is not to undermind Redmayne's brilliance. Honestly, I didn't think he was capable of the gravitas needed to pull off this performance, but he does that and then some. It is truly heart-breaking when he struggles to feed himself when Jane throws a dinner party to celebrate him getting his doctorate and then the desperate climb up the stairs while little Robert looks on behind the gate as Stephen can't finish his climb. He gets the choking and gagging scenes correct and Jones is fabulous, fully prepared to pass little Lucy to her mother-in-law as she slaps him on the back so he doesn't choke. Another scene of note is when she gives him baby Lucy to hold, the gestures of how difficult is was for her to let him hold the baby, so that he can support Lucy's head is remarkable. They both deliver completely natural performances. That is the reason to watch the film.
Also interesting to note, Emily Watson, underused in both the film and Hollywood in general, delivered a similar type performance in the good 1998 film Hilary and Jackie where she plays a brilliant cellist who is diagnosed with MS, a fight which she eventually loses. She didn't win the Oscar that year, though she should have.
This film, in addition to the memorable performances, does have great costuming and cinematography, though I don't think they aged Jane properly, but whatever, I know I'm being super nit-picky but, I think I'm becoming harder to please. This is a romantic film, which I love, but the main couple, who you are rooting for from the very start of the film, don't last. Jane couldn't do it anymore, though she loved him and did her best. Stephen marries Elaine and she marries Jonathan, though the two remain friends. And Stephen lived a lot longer than the two years he was predicted, as he is still alive today, fifty years after his initial diagnosis and he is still at work, trying to prove his theories. He has truly lived an amazing, wonderful life. Grade: A-
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