Eddie Redmayne delivers the most demanding performance of the year as he becomes theoretical physicist and astrologist Stephen Hawking in this romantic period drama. We follow Hawking through his college years and professional career, as the debilitating disease ALS renders him wheelchair bound and incapable of speech. It is his resilience in the face of these obstacles that comes to define Hawking as a person, even as one of the great minds of the 20th century.

Our true guiding light in the story though, is the author of the memoir on which the film is based, Hawking's wife and long-time caretaker, Jane. As played by rising star Felicity Jones, Stephen's better half is by turns saintly and selfish, but always fiercely independent in her pursuit of personal happiness under the shadow of a great genius.

The film is handsomely mounted and inspirationally scored, and the two leads, plus Charlie Cox as the family's aid and Jane's ultimate companion, carry the occasionally slack narrative with their top-notch work. Emotionally, the cast leaves it all on the screen here, and Redmayne truly earns the universal praise heaped upon him for his transformative lead role.

Final Grade: B+ | 87/100 | ★★★