Biographical drama starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. Based on a memoir by Stephen Hawking's first wife, Jane, this story about the personal and professional life of the renowned scientist follows him from his undergraduate days at Oxford, to the onset of his crippling motor neurone disease and his ground-breaking work in the field of physics.
Eddie Redmayne justifiably won an Oscar for this biopic, giving an amazing bodily and facial transformation as cosmologist Stephen Hawking, who fought to prove his big-bang theory as his body succumbed to motor neurone disease. However, the key to the film's success is Felicity Jones's understated performance as his first wife, Jane, as she crucially provides a way in to Hawking's often impenetrable world of academic brilliance. Director James Marsh's film foregrounds Stephen and Jane's relationship, spanning young love, family life, and eventual divorce. Key moments are captured along the way, including Stephen's diagnosis, the friction when Jane befriends widower Jonathan Hellyer Jones (Charlie Cox), and the decisive instant when nurse Elaine Mason (Maxine Peake) takes control. Based on Jane's memoir, Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen, this is a grandly photogenic work that offers much crossover with the 2004 BBC TV film Hawking starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Stephen Hawking | Eddie Redmayne |
| Jane Hawking | Felicity Jones |
| Jonathan Hellyer Jones | Charlie Cox |
| Beryl Wilde | Emily Watson |
| Frank Hawking | Simon McBurney |
| Dennis Sciama | David Thewlis |
| Elaine Mason | Maxine Peake |
| Brian | Harry Lloyd |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | James Marsh |
