“Imagine coming to the end of
questions” expresses Mary Hawking – younger sister of cosmologist
Stephen – towards the end of this eponymous documentary. She’s referring
to her brother’s restless curiosity; an inquisitiveness that helped the
Oxford-born physicist overcome severe health problems to become one of
science’s most celebrated thinkers. For Stephen to stop contemplating
the universe in all its mystery and glory is, she suggests, impossible;
there’s simply too much he hungers to know. Unfortunately, viewers may
share this feeling of unanswered questions come Hawking’s end credits: for all its wealth of detail, Stephen Hawking the man remains somewhat unknown.
Co-written and narrated by Hawking himself, this elusiveness is possibly traceable to its subject’s conflicted relationship with his own celebrity: having been stung by false press and dogged by concerns that his public profile is as much a consequence of his disability as his academic genius, a reluctance to open up emotionally is understandable. To director Stephen Finnigan’s credit, however, this absence doesn’t damage the film’s overall appeal, with Hawking’s sharp wit foregrounded and his accomplishments vividly catalogued.
Co-written and narrated by Hawking himself, this elusiveness is possibly traceable to its subject’s conflicted relationship with his own celebrity: having been stung by false press and dogged by concerns that his public profile is as much a consequence of his disability as his academic genius, a reluctance to open up emotionally is understandable. To director Stephen Finnigan’s credit, however, this absence doesn’t damage the film’s overall appeal, with Hawking’s sharp wit foregrounded and his accomplishments vividly catalogued.
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