The Theory of Everything

A closer look at the story

The Theory of Everything portrays a chapter in the life of the British physicist and theorist Stephen Hawking, centring on his relationship with his first wife, Jane Wilde. Their bond begins when both are students. At that point Stephen is a fit, energetic young man, but before long he receives a diagnosis that turns his world upside down: ALS. The shattering news upends every plan he and Jane have made for the future. Throughout the ordeal Jane stands by him without wavering, fighting for him at every turn. Stephen, meanwhile, refuses to let go of his passion for science even as his body fails him. He throws himself into his most ambitious work, studying the one thing he now has so little of: time. The film looks closely at what the couple achieved together in the name of science and at the strain the illness placed on their marriage. James Marsh directed this 123-minute romantic drama from 2014, made in Britain and the US from Anthony McCarten's script. Eddie Redmayne plays Stephen Hawking and Felicity Jones plays Jane, with Charlie Cox, Emily Watson and Simon McBurney also in the cast.