Jane Hawking, the first wife of late physicist and author Stephen Hawking, has further asserted that an acclaimed film about their lives together misrepresented their 30 year marriage.
Hawking, whose memoir Travelling to Infinity was used as a source for James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything (2014), said that despite her pleading with producers to remain faithful to her book, inaccuracies were permitted in order to keep the running time to a minimum.
“I knew if there were mistakes in the film that they were going to be immortalised, which they have been,” she said.
Speaking at the Henley literary festival, Hawking added: “I found that very irritating and I didn’t want it to happen. Don’t ever believe what you see in films.”
The Theory of Everything followed the couple’s life together, from their first meeting in 1962 until he left her for a carer 30 years later. But Hawking’s widow has taken issue with the circumstances of that first meeting (in St Albans, not Cambridge; Jane was a schoolgirl rather than a student), as well as the film’s compression of events and characters.
Hawking took particular issue with what she felt was a glossing-over of the logistical difficulties which consumed much of her life, caring for both her husband and three small children, and frequently attending physics conferences abroad with them all.
“The film really only shows that part of our lives in Cambridge,” she said. “Our many foreign travels were ignored altogether – for example, our honeymoon was spent at a physics conference at Cornell University in upstate New York.
“I’m sorry to say that none of these extensive travels – with all the organising, packing for a family with a severely disabled member, transporting them, driving them, as well as the usual day-to-day care – really appears in The Theory of Everything.
“I asked for a frenzied fast-forward version – even simply getting all the suitcases, wheelchair and passengers in the car to represent this aspect of our lives – but I was told this was not possible because of the time constraints.”
When the film was first released, Hawking raised some concerns about “the compromises that one has to make for the film industry” and the fact “I didn’t seem to have any friends or relations at all”. But she also praised the performances and called it “a beautiful film”.
Others took further issue with the adaptation and its apparent traducing of Jane’s role in furthering Stephen’s life and work. Michelle Dean wrote of her pity that the film had apparently failed to fully explore Jane’s thought processes in abandoning much of her own early academic ambition to support her husband. She also critiqued the “tidy” resolution of their romantic lives.
“But instead of exploring that fascinating texture in a marriage, The Theory of Everything is hell-bent on preserving the cliche: it tells you that Jane Hawking quietly and gratefully parted ways with him when it became clear their affection for each other was a casualty of the strain. The movie presents the demise of their relationship as a beautiful, tear-soaked, mutually respectful conversation.
“Of course that didn’t actually happen either. Jane’s book describes a protracted breakup that comes to a head in a screaming fight on vacation.”
