Radioactive (U.K./France/U.S.A., 2020)
July 29, 2020
Just because a person’s accomplishments are great, it
doesn’t follow that a movie about their life and achievements will be equally
as compelling. Many feats and undertakings are not inherently cinematic and, no
matter what efforts a filmmaker may attempt to enliven the proceedings, movies
about these individuals may seem to lack energy. Marie Curie (née Sklodowska), inarguably
one of the most important scientists of the 20th century, is one
such example. Perhaps with a different approach, Radioactive might have
generated more of a spark, but the relatively straightforward bio-pic
trajectory favored by director Marjane Satrapi (from a screenplay credited to
Jack Thorne and based on the graphic novel by Lauren Redniss) is by turns
overwrought and somnambulant. And, although it does an adequate job of
illustrating the reasons why history remembers Curie, it feels more like a
Victorian/Edwardian era soap opera than the chronicle of a scientific pioneer.
Hands-down, the best thing about Radioactive is the
performance of Rosamund Pike, who humanizes the icon, making her fiery,
combative, prideful, and full of self-doubt. However, the film’s attempts to
craft a passionate love story featuring Marie and her husband, Pierre, are
undermined by a lack of chemistry between Pike and co-star Sam Riley. Part of
the problem is that Pierre is underdeveloped and, as a result, he never seems
like more than a supporting character in a narrative that needs him to be a
little more substantive than that.
Radioactive opens in 1934 around the time of Curie’s
death; the majority of the film is therefore presented as a flashback (and
sometimes a flashback-within-a-flashback). It primarily chronicles Curie’s time
spent in Paris, beginning in 1893 when she is working for Professor Gabriel
Lippmann (Simon Russell Beale). After being ejected from Lippmann’s laboratory
for being too demanding, she is offered a space by her future husband, Pierre.
The two develop a professional and personal relationship and are married in
1895. They have children and live together happily for many years. During that
period, their investigations into the strange behavior of uranium bears fruit –
not only do they discover “radiation” (a term they coin) but they uncover two
new elements: Polonium and radium. This results in a pair of Nobel prizes for
Marie – one in physics that she shares with Pierre (in 1903) and another in
chemistry that is awarded to her alone (in 1911).
Radioactive’s one departure from the traditional
bio-pic template is to present brief snippets looking into various future
uses/implications of radiation during the years following its discovery. A
scene set in the 1950s shows a doctor explaining how he might be able to use
radiation to degrade a cancer tumor. Another vignette illustrates the
devastating potential of splitting the atom when the Enola Gay drops
Little Boy on Hiroshima. There’s also a depiction of nuclear weapon testing in
the desert. However, instead of having the intended effect of giving Radioactive
greater depth and scope, these interludes illustrate how bland Curie’s life is by
comparison. I realized I would have preferred to view a full movie about any of
these side-stories than the one I was watching.
For anyone in search of a primer on the Curies and the importance of their discoveries, Radioactive fulfills the objective without subjecting the viewer to a textbook-style dissertation. As an epic bio-pic about one of the most influential scientists (either male or female) to have toiled during the last 130 years, the movie underwhelms. The by-the-numbers approach offers nothing notable aside from Pike’s performance. The film’s ready availability on Amazon Prime, however, makes it more appealing than it would be if it required a VOD rental price or a trip to the local art house cinema.
Radioactive (U.K./France/U.S.A., 2020)
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Sam Riley, Simon Russell Beale, Sian Brooke, Aneurin Barnard, Anya Taylor-Joy
Screenplay: Jack Thorne, based on the book by Lauren Redniss
Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle
Music: Evgueni Galperine, Sacha Galperine
U.S. Distributor: Amazon Prime
U.S. Release Date: 2020-07-24
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Sexual Content, Nudity, Disturbing Images)
Genre: Drama
Subtitles: none
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- (There are no more worst movies of Simon Russell Beale)
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