It's all slavishly conformed into a woefully predictable formula, as inflexible as the Meet Cute Rom-Com or the Superhero Epic, every scene less about capturing a moment from a life than about completing a checklist.

The Theory of Everything may not tear a rip in the cinematic space-time continuum, but as an intimate drama about two people struggling with a life they never expected, it has real power.

Watching him [Eddie Redmayne] slumped in an electric wheelchair, simulating the effects of Hawking's motor neurone disease, it's easy to forget you're looking at an actor.

For all the accolades it's destined to receive, 'The Theory of Everything' is deserving.