The Theory Of Everything

PLOT SUMMARY

In 1963, Stephen Hawking (Eddie Redmayne) is a physics PhD student at Cambridge, enjoying parties, rowing and banter with his friend Bryan (Harry Lloyd). Professor Sciama (David Thewlis) gives them a difficult assignment but Stephen brings back the right answers scrawled on the back of a train schedule.

Stephen meets languages student Jane (Felicity Jones) at a party. They are attracted to each other and attend a May Ball where Stephen gets over his shyness and dances with Jane. But one morning, Stephen suffers a bad fall in his college quad. Doctors examine him and he is told he has motor neuron disease, his muscles will degenerate and he has only two years to live.

An anguished Stephen turns both Bryan and Jane away but the latter pursues him. She insists he play croquet with her which is when she sees how physically challenged he has become. Stephen is shattered but Jane insists on marrying him, despite his father trying to dissuade her, saying he fears it will be a devastating loss.

The couple are happily married though and have two children soon. But while he passes his PhD viva and works as a lecturer, his research gaining admirers, Stephen's physical condition is rapidly deteriorating. He cannot speak fluently or walk, he must be fed and he often chokes. Looking after him is exhausting Jane but Stephen is resistant to getting external help.

Jane's mother sees how stressed she is and suggests she join a church choir where Jane meets choirmaster Jonathan (Charlie Cox) who has lost his wife and is lonely. Jonathan becomes a family friend, helping with Stephen and the kids, but this closeness isn't approved of by Stephen's family. When the Hawkings have their third baby, Stephen's mother outrageously asks Jane if the child is Jonathan's. Jane and Jonathan decide to step apart because they do have feelings for each other. But Stephen convinces Jonathan to return.

Stephen decides to go with friends to a concert in France. But as the music plays, he coughs blood and faints, suffering from pneumonia and put on life support. To save him, doctors must operate on his throat, ending his power of speech. Jane, who was on a camping trip with Jonathan, where the couple come closer, arrives in France and agrees to the surgery as Stephen's life is vital to her. Stephen must then learn to communicate through a spelling board and the couple's life gets harder.

But then, a trained nurse Elaine (Maxine Peake) arrives, and Stephen is very happy to communicate with ease. Even better, a computerised application soon helps him give voice to his thoughts and he forms a fun relationship with Elaine. Meanwhile, his research is earning him global accolades but the distance between Stephen and Jane is growing. Finally, Stephen tells Jane Elaine will be accompanying him on a lecture tour to America. Jane realises their marriage is over but the couple remain close friends, Stephen even acknowledging the presence of God to the devout Jane who is delighted that he is not an inflexible atheist any longer.

In America, Stephen addresses eager students. Someone asks him his philosophy of life and as he movingly imagines being physically able, he says life is about hope, courage and human endeavour, to which there is no boundary.

Stephen Hawking is invited by the Queen to be honoured and he invites Jane - now married to Jonathan - and their children to accompany him. The couple sit in a garden and smile when Stephen indicates the children and says, "Look at what we made."