By CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB

“The Theory of Everything” tells the story of Steven Hawking and his first wife, Jane, who met while they were students at Cambridge. The movie is based on Jane Hawking’s memoir, Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Steven. With the help of the memoir, we gain insight into a more human and emotional side of the famous physicist.

Movie poster for ‘The Theory of Everything.’ Courtesy/Reel Deal Theater

Hawking was diagnosed with a form of ALS in 1963 while working on his doctorate. He and Jane had, by then, fallen in love. The diagnosis came with the news that Steven had only two years to live; his motor skills would slowly shut down, but his cognitive functions would not suffer. Marrying Jane, he later said, gave him something to live for. 

Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones play the leads in this film and both are worthy of Oscar nominations for their roles. But Redmayne deserves special attention. To convincingly play a living person, known to the world, is difficult in itself. To play a man deteriorating from a motor neuron disease, before our very eyes, is even more difficult. To play both within the same character is an act of courage.

Cambridge features beautifully in this film with its lush scenery, colleges, pubs, student rooms, cloister walks, bridge and stream … the perfect setting in which a brilliant mind might excel. Hawking’s parent’s home provides a counterpoint, where we see some of his influences in scholarly debate around the dinner table. There is love, respect and humor there and throughout this story.

You might see this film to gain an appreciation of Hawking as a man and his development in physics. But the film will also appeal to anyone interested in romance, academia or one’s successful struggle against physical limitations.

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements and suggestive material, the film would easily interest teenagers; sexual references are tastefully kept to a minimum.