Appropriately played by Polish actress Karolin Gruszka, this biopic sketches out the life of the famed double winner of the Nobel Prize. It begins at the start of the 20th century, with Marie long since departed from Warsaw and now well established as a research scientist in Paris working with her husband Pierre. In 1903 the pair were jointly awarded the Nobel for Physics. Three years later Pierre dies in a street accident and Marie is determined to carry on their work without him.
With the scene thus set the greater part of the film tackles Curie's constant battles to find acceptance, and the equipment and facilities she needs, in a scientific establishment that was heavily prejudiced against women and foreigners. (And rumours that Curie was Jewish - she wasn't - harmed her greatly in a country still suffering the after shocks of the Dreyfus Affair.) An affair with a married man was seized on by a hostile press too, and the film spends a bit too much time on the relationship. Nonetheless the results she produces make her impossible to ignore, and she goes on
Curie is an important figure deserving of a great film, but this isn't it. Gruska is excellent and there's a strong period feel to the action, while the frustrations she faced are well carved out. Despite some lovely moments, like her flirting with Einstein, it feels too ambitious, attempting to shoehorn in every aspect of her life, to the detriment of her work itself and the major influence she had on medical history.
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