Infinity (1996)
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 7.0 Alternative Scale: *** out of ****
United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 10/4/96 (limited) Running Length: 1:56 MPAA Classification: PG (Mature themes) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Cast: Matthew Broderick, Patricia Arquette, Peter Riegert, Dori Brenner, Peter Michael Goetz, Zelijko Ivanek, James LeGros Director: Matthew Broderick Producers: Patricia Broderick & Matthew Broderick, Joel Soisson & Michael Leahy Screenplay: Patricia Broderick based on the books of Richard Feynman Cinematography: Toyomichi Kurita Music: Bruce Broughton U.S. Distributor: First Look Pictures
INFINITY is a biographical look at the early life of Richard Feynman (played in the film by Matthew Broderick), the noted speaker, writer, and Nobel Prize-winning physicist who died in 1988. And, as strange as it may sound, the central tragedy of this film is likely to affect viewers far more than it appears to affect the main character. The conscious decision to strip out all melodrama was made by screenwriter Patricia Broderick and her son, actor/director Matthew (who makes his debut behind the camera with INFINITY). They believed that only in this way could they properly capture the essence of the man whose experiences they were dramatizing. However, Feynman himself once said, "the way to hell is paved with good intentions", and this may be a good example. For, as effective as much of the film is, Feynman's apparent detachment at the end leaves us cold -- almost as if things matter more to us than they do to him.
INFINITY tells two stories: Feynman's relationship with his beloved first wife, Arline (Patricia Arquette), and his involvement in the Manhattan Project's development of the first atomic bomb. While the tales cannot be split, it's clear that the Brodericks have a much better feel for Feynman's personal life than they do for his ethical struggles about unleashing a force of mass destruction. As background, the Los Alamos material is effective, but, on those occasions when it is thrust into the foreground, it pales in comparison to the love story.
The bulk of the film has nothing to do with Los Alamos, the bomb, or J. Robert Oppenheimer. Rather, it's about Richard and his intense, unwavering love for Arline. He meets her one day in 1934, when both are still in high school. He wanders into a room where she's singing and playing the piano, and is immediately smitten. The attraction is mutual, and, from that day forward, they are a couple. During Richard's undergraduate years at MIT, they make long-term plans, intending to marry after he completes his graduate work, believing they have all the time in the world. Fate, however, has a cruel sense of humor.
In 1941, Arline falls ill. The initial diagnosis is Hodgkin's Disease, a fatal ailment. Eventually, however, it turns out to be tuberculosis, the AIDS of the time. Over the protests of his family, who are afraid that he might contract the disease, Richard decides to marry Arline, then accept a government job so he can support her. Shortly after they elope, he moves to Los Alamos to join the Manhattan Project as a theoretical physicist, and the head of the project, Oppenheimer, makes sure that Arline has a place in an Albuquerque sanitarium, where Richard can visit her each weekend. For two years, things continue like this, until Arline's illness reaches its crisis point just as victory is declared in Europe.
As told here, Arline and Richard's touching love story is devoid of sensationalism. Only in the end, when Richard fails to display any significant emotion following Arline's death, does INFINITY strike a wrong chord. Feynman may have really given this rather clinical, dispassionate assessment: "Everybody dies. It doesn't stop the world." But it's tough to get an audience to accept that a loving husband could turn into such a cold fish. SHADOWLANDS, this isn't.
Despite this possible miscalculation regarding the character, Matthew Broderick gives a fine portrayal of Feynman. The physicist's natural curiosity about science and the natural world are very much in evidence. And Broderick's enthusiasm is contagious. If, as Feynman suggests, mathematics are a foreign language, we're more than willing to let him translate for us. Meanwhile, Patricia Arquette turns in her most mature and fully-realized performance to date, drawing on the lessons she learned from ETHAN FROME and BEYOND RANGOON, then going one step further.
Even though there are a few anecdotes involving protons, electrons, neutrons, splitting atoms, inertia, and infinity, a detailed knowledge of physics and mathematics isn't necessary to enjoy the film. Arline is, after all, an artist, so Feynman has to explain his work in a manner that she, and the audience, will understand. INFINITY represents a journey of emotional and scientific discovery. It's just unfortunate that the ending isn't more fundamentally satisfying. That single flaw keeps this from being a remarkable feature.
- James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin
"We go away from our parents in youth and then we gradually come back to them; and in that moment, we have grown up." -- Ingmar Bergman
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