‘Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge’ lacks vital elements
A movie directed by a woman (Marie Noelle) about the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only one to win it twice would seem to be a slam dunk.
The film spans the years from her Nobel Prize in physics — shared in 1903 with husband Pierre Curie (Charles Berling) and colleague Henri Becquerel — to her Nobel Prize in chemistry, awarded solely to Marie (Karolina Gruszka) in 1911.
Both were related to her life’s work with radium, which led to future work in atomic energy and groundbreaking treatments for cancer, ushering physics and chemistry into the 20th century.
Noelle focuses on the Polish-born Marie’s efforts to rebuild her life and career after the 1906 death of Pierre at age 46 in a street accident.
[...] her career is threatened when her affair with a colleague and former student of Pierre’s, the married Paul Langevin (Arieh Worthalter), becomes a public scandal.
“Marie Curie” gets the look right — the costumes, the re-creation of early 20th century Parisian streets and classrooms.
[...] there is no chemistry, pun intended, between Marie and Paul, who conduct one of the most boring affairs ever put on film.
Garson was Oscar-nominated for Mervyn LeRoy’s 1943 MGM film “Madame Curie,” a film that despite the usual Hollywoodization of the Curie story at least made a good stab at representing her science and passion for her work.
Little Irene, played at age 15 by Rose Montron, is rarely in the film, without a memorable scene.
The film spans the years from her Nobel Prize in physics — shared in 1903 with husband Pierre Curie (Charles Berling) and colleague Henri Becquerel — to her Nobel Prize in chemistry, awarded solely to Marie (Karolina Gruszka) in 1911.
Both were related to her life’s work with radium, which led to future work in atomic energy and groundbreaking treatments for cancer, ushering physics and chemistry into the 20th century.
Noelle focuses on the Polish-born Marie’s efforts to rebuild her life and career after the 1906 death of Pierre at age 46 in a street accident.
[...] her career is threatened when her affair with a colleague and former student of Pierre’s, the married Paul Langevin (Arieh Worthalter), becomes a public scandal.
“Marie Curie” gets the look right — the costumes, the re-creation of early 20th century Parisian streets and classrooms.
[...] there is no chemistry, pun intended, between Marie and Paul, who conduct one of the most boring affairs ever put on film.
Garson was Oscar-nominated for Mervyn LeRoy’s 1943 MGM film “Madame Curie,” a film that despite the usual Hollywoodization of the Curie story at least made a good stab at representing her science and passion for her work.
Little Irene, played at age 15 by Rose Montron, is rarely in the film, without a memorable scene.