Creation

Saturday 26th September 2009, 8:53AM BST.

In the year which marks the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work On The Origin Of Species – By Means Of Natural Selection, Hollywood gets in on the act.

Casting real-life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as the pre-eminent scientist and his wife, Jon Amiel’s beautifully crafted biopic focuses on the turbulent period before Darwin committed his radical theories to parchment and changed the course of science.

To suggest that homo sapiens and all other species were the result of millions of years of evolution was nothing short of heresy: natural selection trumps divine intervention.

‘I’ll bet half of the nation would cheerfully see you burned at the stake if they knew what you were writing,’ confides Darwin’s closest friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker (Dominic Cumberbatch).

Yet to finish the book, Darwin risks his marriage to Emma, a deeply religious woman, whose faith in the Almighty is as unshakable as her belief in her husband.

Based on the book Annie’s Box by Randal Keynes, Darwin’s great great grandson, Creation meets Darwin (Bettany) in his early forties in the throes of grief.

His favoured, eldest daughter Annie (Martha West) has died aged 10, possibly from scarlet fever or tuberculosis, estranging the scientist from his wife Emma (Connelly) and remaining children.

His mental state is fragile and his health failing, and to add to Charles’ woes, he is at the centre of a violent tug of war between science and faith – between Thomas Huxley (Toby Jones) and Reverend Innes (Jeremy Northam), the former urging Charles to finish his book, the latter condemning it.

The embattled father finds salvation in the ghost of his dear departed daughter, who inspires him to believe in himself and repair the damage to his marriage.

Creation is a restrained and artfully composed leaf through a chapter in history that plays out these upsetting years in Darwin’s life as a mosaic of waking dreams.

Pacing is languid and considering the maelstrom of emotions that engulfs the characters, there are desperately few outbursts from them.

In the mid 19th century, feelings were concealed behind breeches and bustles, which doesn’t make for exciting drama.

Bettany looks suitably haggard and the on-screen chemistry with an equally dour Connelly is evident but it is newcomer West, making her screen debut in a role which has echoes of Anna Paquin in The Piano, who breathes life into otherwise pedestrian scenes.

Slavish adherence to historical detail is of greater concern to director Amiel than dramatic momentum, leaving us feeling rather restless as Darwin takes his children for a walk in the countryside and educates, ‘The fox has to eat the rabbit otherwise its children will starve.

It’s just the way it is.’ Creation is meticulously crafted yet somewhat uninvolving.

That’s just the way it is.