“The Theory of Everything” can be described as a predictable form of storytelling. It’s a love story filled with tension, beauty and temptation. It’s a good story, but it has been told before.
The film is a romantic movie at its finest. However, “The Theory of Everything” transcends the predictable monotony of romantic flicks to inspire and enlighten. Its long running time is gone in the blink of the eye, and the audience is left with a smile. It’s a praise for the endurance of the human spirit, a true representation of love, and a good-feel look at the life of Stephen Hawking.
Acting
Does Eddie Redmayne deserve the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in this film? Absolutely. Eddie’s physical acting prowess combined with his physical looks of the renowned physicist make this film worth the price of admission and more. Redmayne makes it seem effortless, toeing a fine line between social awkwardness and Stephen’s hilarious sarcasm and wit.
Felicity Jones does well as Jane. Sometimes she does fine in conveying her love for Stephen; for example, seeing her tear up and break down as Stephen struggles to play croquet after his diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Sometimes, though, it doesn’t seem like she’s always Stephen’s anchor. I understand Jane must have been frustrated at times for Stephen; frustrated at God for the disease and frustrated that Stephen would sometimes just make light of it. Felicity doesn’t really make it seem like Jane is with Stephen all the way. It’s almost as if she is trying too hard to convey a more human Jane, but this alienates the movie’s premise of her being Stephen’s everything.
Sound
Everything about the sound is simple, harking back to a time when Jane and Stephen were in love. The soundtrack has a clean feeling to it, nothing is out of place or overly dramatic. The beats and wording of Stephen’s talking machine make it seem like Stephen was recorded for those lines. It’s easy to replicate the voice itself, but it’s the rhythm and the dialogue that make the machine sound genuine.
Cinematography
The lighting in this film makes it stand out as some of the best work from 2014. Everything is lit in soft lighting with lots of yellow — a symbol of warm, romantic interludes. I would say it is indicative of Stephen and Jane’s pure relationship in the beginning. Even the wedding scene is depicted through the lens of an old-timey camera, where blurs of red obscure some of the shots as if the film was overexposed — or due to the primitive nature of the camera. As the years go by, things are still shot in warm colors, lots of reds, oranges, and yellows. Although the lighting is now darker, relying more on lamps or ambient lighting, as if the love is dying out.
Sets/Locations
I really enjoyed the carnival scene at the beginning of the film, where Jane asks Stephen if he dances. The splashes of blue, the yellow lights scattered across the boardwalk, and the variety of colors on the Merry-Go-Round really make the scene pop out.
The only gripe I have with the sets/locations is that there is no progression of time. I understand that having a “new gadget” in the script for sake of telling time can be trite, but I also have difficulty figuring out what is happening in the world when certain events in Jane/Stephen’s lives occur. Sure, one sees the progression of time through the children growing up and Stephen’s deterioration. However, this makes it seem like Jane and Jonathan (Stephen’s caretaker of sorts) fall in love in a matter of 30-minutes of screen time.
All in all, “The Theory of Everything” is a great film. There’s romance, fun, loss and wit. You could almost say that those attributes make up the theory of everything.
Chad Alexander is a mild-mannered government contractor by day and a pretty normal sleeper by night. He has been dedicated to freelance writing for the last decade — writing scripts, short stories, and blogging in his spare time. He reads constantly, plays board games in his spare time, and enjoys a fine 20 oz of Cherry Coke whenever he’s feeling dangerous.
Editor’s Note: The views expressed by contributing writer’s are their own and may not necessarily reflect the views of Fredericksburg.Today.
What did you think of “The Theory of Everything?” Tell us in the comments.
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