Eddie Redmayne's win of this year's best-actor Oscar for his portrayal of wheelchair-bound physicist Stephen Hawking in "The Theory of Everything" confirms what we already know: The Academy likes nothing so much as an actor portraying physical or mental disability, from "Rain Man" and "My Left Foot" right on down. Yet while it's easy to be cynical about their preference for performances where the effort is all on the surface, we need to judge Redmayne's work on its own merits — and they are considerable.
"The Theory of Everything" is based on a memoir by Hawking's first wife, Jane, to whom he was married for some two decades. The film is less about Hawking's brilliance in the field of physics than it is about a couple who find themselves having to deal with a debilitating illness, and the bond that sees them through.
Hawking meets Jane (Felicity Jones) while studying at Cambridge and, after a brief courtship, he is struck by strange symptoms that are diagnosed as motor neuron disease — a syndrome of increasing bodily dysfunction and paralysis. He's given two years to live, but Jane decides not only to stick with him but to marry and have children. Hawking's determination not to be treated as a cripple is what gives him the strength to continue in his work and career, but it also places a heavy burden on Jane, who eventually starts finding solace in the company of a musician (Charlie Cox) who conducts the church choir where she sings.