Eddie Redmayne has garnered critical acclaim for a towering performance as Stephen Hawking in James Marsh's new British drama The Theory of Everything. Inspired by the memoir Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by his first wife Jane Hawking, the movie deals with their relationship, Hawking's diagnosis for motor neurone disease and his glittering successes in physics.

Eddie RedmayneEddie Redmayne [R] turns in a towering performance as Stephen Hawking

"But Redmayne towers: this is an astonishing, genuinely visceral performance which bears comparison with Daniel Day-Lewis in My Left Foot, said Catherine Shoard of The Guardian, "His Hawking starts askew - the glasses, maybe the shoulders a touch - and over the course of two hours contorts and buckles into a figure at once instantly familiar and fresh." Even the most amateur of movie buffs will know that Day-Lewis won his first Oscar for playing artist Christy Brown, who suffered from cerebral palsy.

More: see Eddie Redmayne in 'The Theory of Everything'

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"Redmayne in particular turns in a physically demanding performance like he's a veteran and not a rising superstar, crushing all of his previous roles," wrote Nikola Grozdanovic of IndieWire.

Redmayne has been impressive, if not outstanding, in various movies - Les Miserables, My Week with Marilyn and Black Death - though The Theory of Everything is clearly the most full-bodied and complex script he's agreed to work on.

Benedict CumberbatchBenedict Cumberbatch also received high praise for playing Alan Turing

"Facing the physical challenges of depicting Hawking's disability, Redmayne pulls it off with enormous grace and endurance, and it's not just the assist from prosthetic teeth and ears that helps him create an impeccable mimicry of the real man," said Leslie Felperin of the Hollywood Reporter.

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It is interesting to note that two of the most accomplished performances at the Toronto Film Festival came from British actors playing brilliant scientists - Redmayne as Hawking and Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing. However, it wouldn't be in the least bit surprising should both be awaiting the result of the Oscar for Best Actor at the Dolby Theatre on February 22, 2014. 

'The Theory of Everything' hits theaters on November 7, 2014.

Watch 'The Theory of Everything' trailer: