The Theory of Everything is a wonderful, inspirational biopic on Stephen Hawking, the brilliant theoretical physicist, and Jane, his wife. The film is as much a triumph over disability, as a defiant love story that conquers debilitating motor neuron disease. Struck by the disease at 21 and given two years to live, Hawking goes on to become Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, and author of several books, including A Brief History of Time . Starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones and directed by James Marsh, the film is hotly tipped for a slew of Oscars — for best film, director, actor, actress and screenplay. I saw the film at the Dubai International Film Festival (December 10-17, 2014), where it was the opening film. It is due to release in India in early January 2015.
Above all, The Theory of Everything underlines the jaw-dropping personal self-confidence of a severely-disabled man, who communicates mainly by blinking his eyes. Apart from his distinguished professional accomplishments, he divorces his devoted first wife, Jane, after 26 years of marriage and three children, marries his nurse, and divorces again, as a senior citizen, at 64 — he is now 72! This extraordinary self-esteem and courage is something most able-bodied people lack; lingering, malingering, in tired marriages for a variety of reasons, including wanting someone to hold on to in their old age. But neither Hawking’s dependence on others, nor his approaching old age kept him from getting his second divorce — even though the film ends before this. Jane’s determination matches his: when the doctor says he has only two years to live, she insists on marrying him, saying let’s give it what we’ve got. In fact, the film is based on Jane Hawking’s memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen .
When one of Hawking’s buddies, wondering about his sex life, asks gingerly, “Does your disease affect, you know, everything?” Hawking, who could speak a little then, grins and says, “Different system. Automatic.” Clearly, he must be sexy and attractive — or at least his mind and personality are. Or why would two perfectly attractive, confident women want to marry him? A lot of women would find gentleness and a dry wit sexy — in contrast with the pneumatic six-pack crapola Bollywood and Hollywood feed us. You wonder what Jane gets out of the relationship, as she goes from joyously optimistic to stubbornly determined to quietly worn out, without losing her dignity; if anything the film balances the dignity of both partners.
Her unwavering love seems strongly buttressed by religious faith. Hawking is an atheist, seeking to find a single universal theory that explains everything in existence, reconciling quantum mechanics with Einstein’s general relativity theory. Her English rose-ness, as it were, airbrushes hints of co-dependency. Even when Hawking betrays her — travelling to the U.S. with his nurse without first telling her — she doesn’t stoop to melodrama though she is attracted to a church choir conductor. It’s all stiff upper lip, with heartbreaking understatement. But they can also rise above a broken marriage and be friends again: when Hawking is invited to be knighted by the Queen, he invites ex-wife Jane to accompany him.
The Theory of Everything follows in the wake of a number of films that have dealt with various disabilities: A Beautiful Mind (Russell Crowe; schizophrenia; won four Oscars), My Left Foot (Daniel Day-Lewis; cerebral palsy; won two Oscars), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Mathieu Amalric; paralysis; four Oscar nominations). There’s also Dance Me to My Song , Blind Massage , Next to Her , and Safina Uberoi’s A Good Man (a remarkable docu-feature on an Australian, who starts a brothel, in order to support his quadriplegic wife). Indian films on the subject include Shonali Bose’s Margarita with a Straw , Sai Paranjpye’s Sparsh , Gulzar’s Koshish , Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black and Guzaarish , and Pradeep Sarkar’s Lafangey Parindey .
Most of these films are inspirational. Yet, when watching The Theory of Everything , you might think — the bloody cheek of a severely-debilitated man to divorce two attractive normal wives! But Hawking has had a lifetime’s practice coping with the debilities of old age, since he was 21. He has shades of Puru: in the myth, Yayati was cursed with old age but his devoted son Puru exchanged his youth for his father’s old age. When based on real life characters, who are still living, the film acquires a keener edge. If you’re a serious contender, it makes it a little easier to get an Oscar nod. Or two.
Meenakshi Shedde is South Asia Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival, critic, festival curator and journalist.
meenakshishedde@gmail.com
