Taglines: How he saw the world changed it forever.
What happens when a world-renowned scientist, crushed by the loss of his eldest daughter, formulates a theory in conflict with religious dogma? This is the story of Charles Darwin and his master-work “The Origin of Species”. It tells of a global revolution played out within the confines of a small English village; a passionate marriage torn apart by the most dangerous idea in history; and a theory saved from extinction by the logic of a child.
The story of Charles Darwin, who copes with the death of his daughter by plunging into his work “The Origin of Species.” From director Jon Amiel (The Singing Detective, Entrapment) and writer John Collee (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) comes Creation. A psychological, heart-wrenching love story starring Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World) as Charles Darwin, the film is based on “Annie’s Box,” a biography penned by Darwin’s great-great-grandson Randal Keynes using personal letters and diaries of the Darwin family.
We take a unique and inside look at Darwin, his family and his love for his deeply religious wife, played by Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind, Requiem for a Dream), as, torn between faith and science, Darwin struggles to finish his legendary book “On the Origin of Species,” which goes on to become the foundation for evolutionary biology.
Creation is a 2009 British biographical drama film about Charles Darwin’s relationship with his wife Emma and his memory of their eldest daughter Annie, as he struggles to write On the Origin of Species. The film, directed by Jon Amiel and starring real life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles and Emma Darwin, is a partly biographical, partly fictionalised account, based on Randal Keynes’s Darwin biography Annie’s Box.
About the Story
British naturalist Charles Darwin is a young father who lives a quiet life in an idyllic village. He is a brilliant and deeply emotional man, devoted to his wife and children. Darwin is especially fond of his eldest daughter Annie, a precocious and inquisitive ten-year-old. He teaches her much about nature and science, including his theory of evolution, and tells her stories of his travels.
Her favourite story, despite the sad ending, is about the young orangutan Jenny, who is brought from Borneo to the London Zoo, where she finally died of pneumonia in the arms of her keeper. Darwin is furious when he learns that the family clergyman has made Annie kneel on rock salt as punishment for contradicting him about dinosaurs, which she takes as having become extinct long ago. This contradicts the church’s position that life is unchanging and that the Earth is very young.
Having returned from his expedition in the Galapagos Islands 15 years earlier, Darwin is still trying to finish a manuscript about his findings, which will substantiate his theory of evolution. The delay is caused by anxiety about his relationship with his devoutly religious wife, Emma, who fundamentally opposes his ideas, which pose a threat to established Anglican religion. Emma worries that she may go to heaven and he may not, separating them for eternity.
The film shows Annie, through flashbacks and Darwin’s hallucinations, as a vibrant apparition who goads her father to address his fears and finish his big work. It is apparent that Annie has died, and that her death is a taboo subject between Darwin and Emma, as both feel intense blame for her death. As a result of the strained relations between Charles and Emma, they entirely stop having sex. Anguished, Darwin begins to suffer from a mysterious, fatiguing illness.
It is revealed that after Annie becomes ill in 1851, Darwin takes her to the Worcestershire town of Malvern for James Manby Gully’s water cure therapy, against Emma’s will. Annie’s condition worsens, and she ultimately dies after her father, at her request, tells her Jenny’s story once more. Darwin is devastated, and her death sharpens his conviction that natural laws have nothing to do with divine intervention. To his contemporaries, this is an idea so dangerous it seems to threaten the existence of God. In a box in Darwin’s study, we discover the notes and observations that will become On the Origin of Species.
Having read his 230-page synopsis, Darwin’s friends in the scientific community, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Henry Huxley, also encourage him. Huxley admiringly tells Darwin that with his theory he has “killed God”, which fills Darwin with dread. In his hallucinations, he also feels that Annie disapproves of his procrastination.
Darwin receives a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace in 1858, which details the same findings as Darwin in 20 pages. He has mixed feelings about this; all his work may have been in vain, but on the other hand, as he will not have to write his book, the discord with Emma will heal. However, Darwin’s friends urge him to continue, as his book is much more comprehensive.
Creation (2010)
Directed by: Jon Amiel
Starring: Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly, Jeremy Northam, Toby Jones, Benedict Cumberbatch, Teresa Churcher, Freya Parks, Christopher Dunkin, Jeremy Northam, Robert Glenister, Catherine Terris
Screenplay by: John Collee
Production Design by: Laurence Dorman
Cinematography by: Jess Hall
Film Editing by: Melanie Oliver
Costume Design by: Louise Stjernsward
Set Decoration by: Dominic Capon
Art Direction by: Bill Crutcher, Gary Jopling
Music by: Christopher Young
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some intense thematic material.
Distributed by: BBC Films, Icon Film Distribution
Release Date: January 22, 2010
