Hawking

The dramatization (with all the pros and cons that result from such a movie) of Stephen Hawking's life story in the period when he is entering Cambridge, meets his future wife, learns his diagnosis, and lives under the impression that he has barely a few years to live, and at the same time, just by the way, searches for the "beginning of time". All this is held together by Cumberbatch's performance, which is perhaps impossible to describe other than with superlatives; which is true not only of him, but also of Tom Ward and Michael Brandon. (26/03/2011)