The Theory of Everything is a 2014 biographical film journeying through the early adulthood of the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. To understand the film, context must be given regarding Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking is currently a seventy-three year old British theoretical scientist who is best known for his theory called Hawking Radiation and his Singularity Theorem, as well as the book A Brief History of Time. He suffers from a crippling disease that prevents him for walking, talking, or eating. This movie and another movie, Hawking (2013), are rapidly gaining popular support for this brilliant man.

The film has won critical acclaim with several features of this film honoring this title. Stephen Hawking is played by Eddie Redmayne, whose perfect portrayal of the character of Professor Hawking and the flawless adaptation of his disability earned him the Best Actor award at the 87th Academy Awards. Jane Hawking, the first wife of Stephen, is played by Felicity Jones, and was nominated for an Academy Award for her outstanding performance as well. The soundtrack added to the emotional effect of the movie, and the plot was accurate. It is a beautiful journey through the struggles Stephen Hawking experienced, beginning at his lack of intensive research at Cambridge University to his diagnosis with motor neuron disease, to the eventual divorce of his wife Jane. The film equally divides Hawking’s achievements, such as his theory now called Hawking Radiation (in which black holes eventually disappear due to the loss of energy) and his most famous book, A Brief History of Time, with his emotional experiences with his wife Jane and the struggles of being a parent to three children while only able to use a speech synthesiser to communicate. This makes the movie excellent for science enthusiasts, lovers of romance, and anyone seeking confidence in their abilities.

For a biographical film to be deemed truly successful, the person on which the film is based has to like the film. Stephen Hawking called the movie “broadly true” and had to have a tear wiped from his eye by a nurse at the first screening of the movie, which shows just how much this movie meant to him, as it displayed his struggles that he battles with today. The Theory of Everything is a hard-to-find movie, but if you come across the movie, I encourage you to watch it because you will not only learn about Stephen Hawking, but learn about your own abilities.