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Man Who Knew Infinity, The

6/10

Stars: Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons, Toby Jones, Jeremy Northam, Devika Bhise, Stephen Fry, Kevin MacNally, Richard Johnson

Director: Matt Brown

In the same ballpark as A Beautiful Mind, this sturdy if wordy biopic follows the journey of Madras-born Srinivasa Ramanujan (Patel), a genius at working out mathematical formulae and inventing new ones.

He's already 26 when he comes to England in 1914 to study at Cambridge University under the wing of deeply sceptical, atheistic Professor Hardy (Irons), leaving wife (appealing newcomer Bhise) and mother behind. They write often, but Mama makes sure the correspondence is locked away.

Back at Cambridge, Hardy soon realises when a gem he has on his hands, but encounters stiff opposition from fellow academics, who trenchantly contend that the self-taught Ramanujan's conclusions - especially those on 'partitions' (how many different ways there are of reaching a final figure), however well they might seem to work, lack the backing of logical proof.

And then there is the matter of Ramanujan's dodgy health, as war changes the university landscape.

Patel, looking older than in his days at various Marigold Hotels, and Irons both give convincingly three-dimensional performances, even if the nature of their studies may leave many unmoved. One of the deans opposing them is raspingly well played by the late Richard Johnson, whose last film this was.

David Quinlan

UK/India 2015. UK Distributor: Warner Brothers. Colour by Panalux.
107 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 05 Apr 2016