So, if anyone has not seen the trailer yet , the film (The) Theory of Everything was just recently released. I personally could not wait for its debut. I figured I would give my personal little synopsis and two cents, but I would love it if anyone who has seen it would share! I just love to discuss films.. and everything, really.
!!!!!!! WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS!!
So to start off, I was really excited to learn about Stephen's educational background. I was hoping to get more of an insight into when people really noticed his genius, what inspired him, how he felt about his intelligence, dealt, coped, and what he had hoped to accomplish before the discovery of his illness. Being passionate in the houses of logic and science, I was hoping for a more scientifically-oriented film, one that expanded on his theory/theories of time (as exposed in the theatrical trailer).
Now, if I had seen the film's official promotional poster, I would have learned that the film's concentration was not on the details of Hawking's scientific endeavors and accomplishments, but rather it was supposed to be a love story. Whaaa??
Now, don't worry (unless you were looking for a love story), the film still didn't appeal to me as a "love story"- you know, boy meets girl, they fall in love, queue sappy music, work up to the big kiss, intense orchestra music, blah blah. It was really not this kind of movie, but, and I honestly think I nailed it here:
A story of his family life, how the dynamic of his marriage [to his first wife (still legally only wife that I know of)]** changed, how he chose to deal with it and adapt for the sake of his family. For example, when he was officially diagnosed with ALS, he did not want to see his wife (at the time just a girl he was seeing) because, I believe, he knew that it would be only natural for his wife to not only become bitter from frustration throughout time (which was apparent later into the film), but to fall out of love with Hawking and into love with someone who she could maintain a normal relationship with.
** I wrote this in the way that I did, because there are things that were alluded to, but not set in stone in the movie. For example, there was a woman who was(/is?) Hawking's teacher/caretaker that was shown to seemingly have an intimate relationship with Hawking, though the status of their relationship was never definitively set in the film. Situations like these were left ambiguous, I believe, because since Hawking is still alive he may want to protect himself and the other people featured in the film (the woman, family) and/or does not want to set any definitive roles for people in real life by doing so in the film.
