The Man Who Knew Infinity

I doubt the truth of this (or most such 'high society' stories for that matter) is anywhere near this innocent, but a reasonably touching and enjoyable meditation nevertheless.

As mentioned the cast is fantastic, icons of the British theatre. One detail I thought important and considering mathematicians as scientists, why was Srinivasa allowed to mingle with the public as his tuberculosis worsened. My mother contracted tb back in 1930s in Butte, MT and spent a year in a sanatorium. Didn't they hospitalize such cases back at the time the storytook place?

Excellent! A must see!

My personal favorite part from this film was when Ramanujan's teacher is angry because he refuses to demonstrate his work or explain how he arrived at his conclusions. The teacher, unable to comprehend how Ramanujan can answer hard problems without using the standard stages, chastises him for arrogance and dismisses his techniques as incorrect. The acting in that scene shows how the main character was feeling after because his professor told him he didn't belong there.

Similar vein to other academic favorites like A Beautiful Mind, Oppenheimer and Good Will Hunting. Sad and inspiring---lost another genius far too young. I cant help but wonder is some of the poor reviews may hold some intrinsic biases...

In the years just before and during WWI, Srinivasa Ramanujan was making major contributions to the world of the mathematics, although many were not fully recognized until late in his brief career. I am not a mathematician myself, so I feel no great shame in admitting that I had never heard of him. But now, with THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY, I am familiar with his story and while I'm not much closer to understanding the math that came to him so easily, I am glad to have learned about him and am glad, in general, that a film was made which will help keep his name out there. In brief, Ramanujan was a self-taught mathematician, a prodigy, living his early adulthood in India, where he essentially hit the top of what he could learn there. Fortunately, some of his work reached British mathematician and Cambridge instructor G.H. Hardy (played here by Jeremy Irons, giving his very best affable Jeremy Irons performance…sincere and with the most beautiful diction. Not a criticism…just saying Irons has perfected this kind of role). The movie spends a lot of time on the obstacles Ramanujan faced (Dev Patel plays him with a somewhat feverish passion. He seems to know his time is limited and is bursting with impatience at everything because he doesn't have the TIME to do things the formal way or the "correct" way). His struggles to get out of India into an institution that might help him grow. His struggles to be together with his wife. His struggles to find food to eat in a society that has no understanding of what a vegetarian is. His struggles to understand the need to PROVE his work. His struggles with pompous Brits who look down their noses at him. And his many struggles with poor health. Don't take from my tone that this isn't a compelling movie. While it is largely peopled with "nerds", these nerds are all very different from each other, and much of the drama comes from the simple clashing of styles. First, between Ramanujan and Hardy, his closest mentor. Patel & Irons have great chemistry and spend a lot of time arguing over the need for these proofs. Ramanujan just KNOWS his ideas are correct; he SEES it clearly in his mind. But he has no training in (and little patience for) the formality of providing proofs that others can see, understand and replicate. Unless these things resonate for you, there will always be a little emotional remove from the subjects under discussion. But Irons and Patel sell the heck out of it, so it's easy to go along for the ride. There's also an interesting relationship between Hardy and his best friend and fellow mathematician, John Littlewood (the always excellent Toby Jones). The cast is peppered with other terrific actors such as Stephen Fry and Jeremy Northam, so if you're a fan of Brit-heavy drama, this film feels like a warm comforter thrown around you. Lots of British wit, and stiff-upper lip reserve and lovely scenery. Patel bursts through all this like a bull in a china shop (though a sickly one) and it does make for some low key fireworks. It's far from the best bio-pic out there, but it's a very solid, engaging, interesting and well-crafted film that I encourage anyone to seek out. The main characters deserve to be remembered, and the film deserves to be seen.

A good effort at championing a genius who should be as well known as Stephen Hawking. Definitely worth a watch and leaves you wanting to know more about his life and accomplishments.

All the parts of the movie felt bad executed.

Rating: 7/10. 71/100

Pretty straight forward telling of an Indian maths genius and his trials and tribulations at Cambridge. Not great. Not bad. Well scripted and acted.