(WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS)
Professor Stephen Hawking is a genius, an icon and probably the most famous disabled person in the world. He’s an instantly recognisable figure who needs very little introduction. But the new film, The Theory of Everything, starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, reveals some of the lesser know aspects of his life and in particular explores Hawking’s relationship with ‘the woman behind the man’ – his first wife, Jane Wilde. The film has received critical acclaim and today was nominated for ten BAFTAs, including Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress. With such a celebrated disabled figure involved and treatment of disability in film being somewhat hit and miss in the past we thought we’d take a look and see how the film stacks up.
As was implied by the use of ‘first wife,’ this is the story of the eventual breakdown of a twenty five year marriage. In The Theory of Everything Jane and Stephen first meet and fall in love in Cambridge in 1963. Shortly after their romantic first kiss at the May Ball, Hawking is diagnosed with ALS – a form of Motor Neurone Disease – and is told he has two years to live. However, the couple marry, have three children and Stephen achieves incredible success, thanks in no small part to care and support his wife provides. In the film, the pressure of the relationship begins to tell and Jane starts to feel suffocated by the responsibilities of being a wife, mother, carer and individual and as Stephen’s career progresses she becomes more marginalised. It’s about a scientist and about disability but most of all it’s about a complex relationship between a husband and wife.
By a distance the best thing about The Theory of Everything are the performances. Whilst the rest of the film is at times a little cheesy or formulaic the acting is superb throughout. The film is as much about Jane Wilde as it is Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones conveys a sharp and quietly, ‘Britishly’, strong character. Harry Lloyd as one of Hawking’s friends from university was a much smaller role but did a good job too and their friendship shows the tone of how the film confronts disability – it’s in no way tragic but actually can be a source of humour.
The real star is undeniably Eddie Redmayne for his staggering portrayal of Hawking. The change he goes through is utterly incredible, precise and technically amazing considering that the film was shot out of sequence. At first he uses the tiniest movements, like looking at his hands, to show how his body is changing. Towards the end it’s quite the opposite, with the tiniest movements becoming all his has at his disposal to express his emotion – a challenge for any actor surely, but Redmayne conveys so much with so little. Throughout the film he manipulates his body in extraordinary ways, but he also makes the character seem real. Some people may find able bodied actors playing disabled characters uneasy, but it’s this crucial factor that allows him to pull it off.
People with Motor Neurone Disease have been full of praise for how he captures what MND does to the body and for the way that the film shows a fully formed person rather than a stock disabled character. When films can so often patronise disabled people or create a completely false image of life as a family with a disabled parent (either displaying a falsified ideal or a home full of soul crushing day-to-day tragedy) it’s good to see the Hawking of TToE is not a trope, a stereotype, a victim or somebody defined by their disability. His disability is part of rather than an obstruction to their lives. He still goes out on the town and does what he wants – and this is 1960’s Cambridge we’re talking about. When he decides to go to France, it takes planning, but the main problems are who’s going to look after the kids and Jane’s her fear of flying; not his wheelchair (getting back does turn out to be trickier but we won’t spoil why).
Speaking of his wheelchair, the scene in which his first manual wheelchair is introduced raised slight concerns that it was going to be viewed as a limiting, negative sign of his degenerative disease. But such fears were quite quickly dispelled as the wheelchair allows him to do things he couldn’t without it – like go to the beach. Things are better still with the introduction of his mechanical chair which he plays around in with his children. Similarly, the introduction of that famous electronic voice soon sees Hawking messing around quoting classic movie lines and imitating a Dalek. Redmayne’s Hawking could never be described by the horrible phrase of somebody ‘confined to a wheelchair’ and it’s clear that the assistive equipment in The Theory of Everything are liberating for the characters.
The Theory of Everything is a portrayal of a real man with a real personality, for better and worse. Hawking is shown as someone with a sense of humour and a selfish streak, which respectively help to ground the film and avoid making it either a sob story or a sugar coated biography – two traps for films about disability. For instance, when he and his wife have their bed moved downstairs, into the kitchen, he jokes that it will be more convenient for breakfast (it’s funnier in the film). On the other hand, he also comes across as selfish in refusing to hire carers or assistants or accept help his wife needs. In this and other respects, the film shows a man who was brilliant mind but a less than brilliant husband. This is helped by using Wilde’s memoir as source material, which was always likely to give a less than fully favourable version of her ex-husband (inevitably there are some inaccuracies in the adaptation).
Hawking may feel slightly hard done by, but Wilde may equally feel that the adaptation of her story has taken the edge of his worst traits. They may both be right, as the film feels slightly safe and middle of the road, with all the main characters coming across as unrealistically nice. Another criticism could be the way that Hawking’s work is rather glossed over. The film relies on the fact that the viewer knows a bit about Stephen Hawking and on characters mentioning, almost in passing, how talented and famous he is. But TToE isn’t about science, it’s about the relationship between the Hawkings. If you want to find out more about Stephen Hawking’s work you’ll have to go and read it.
Great performances, not patronising towards disability but the film is a little on the formulaic side. It’s sure to do well at the awards this year, definitely go and see it if you can.