I have a pet peeve about a practice which tends to occur mainly in biopics: at or near the beginning, the filmmakers show the year of the current setting at the bottom of the screen, then never bother to show it again throughout the rest of the movie. Thus, we the audience have no idea what year it is, how much time is passing, and in the case of the based-on-true-stories biopics, no ability to match up the events onscreen with what we know of actual history. If they’re going to present non-diegetic information at the beginning, they should do so consistently, or not do it at all.
And in this particular film, such information would be of great use to a viewer, as the only indication we have of passing time is watching the Hawking children get older. This is a major shortcoming, as it’s mentioned early on that Hawking is expected to live only another two years, at most, but since this is a real man who is still very much alive, we know his number ain’t up at two...but the movie makes no effort to show how or why he survived. His tenacity at being alive is only even mentioned once, by his wife, and she doesn’t say how much longer it’s been, only that instead of two years he’s had “many more years.” Deliberately vague, or unaware of the need not to be? There seems to be no point in doing so purposely, therefore it's most likely an oversight.
The effect of this lack of information is that we have nothing against which to gauge his triumphs, his overcoming of physical limitations to succeed in his field with the strength of his mind...which they also hardly even discuss; the movie doesn’t tell us much about his work or what it means. For a movie supposedly about “everything,” it’s mostly about nothing. It doesn’t even make some of its basic story elements clear. I understand the focus of the film was intended to be his relationship with his wife and family, not his professional career and scientific achievements, and that would be fine - if indeed the movie did showcase his personal relationships. But it doesn’t.
Apparently there was something going on between his wife and his caretaker, but it’s barely even hinted at, much less expressed, and I don’t remember being shown anything about who this guy is or where he came from or how they know him; he’s just there and helping out because Hawking’s in a wheelchair. Then he feels compelled to leave, for whatever reason, and words on the screen at the end of the movie say the wife left Hawking and married this guy...for realsies, in the actual world of actual people. But we’re never exposed to anything resembling the possibility of a relationship between these two.
Also, we hardly see anything about his interaction with his children or their impact on him. Much of it seems to focus on the degradation of his physical self. One day he can slowly make his way down the stairs, another day he can’t go up. He walks with a cane, he needs an electric wheelchair. At one point he can still speak, then eventually he can’t. That’s most of the movie, while supposedly he’s doing great theoretical work offscreen and playing with his constantly growing children onscreen.
All this should be included, certainly, but without any other emotional dramatic context, what are we watching? It’s just a boring movie with nothing happening and no insights into the life and personality of a truly fascinating and extraordinary person...a major failure of a film.
