Product Details

• Actors: Helena Bonham Carter, Kenneth Branagh, Gemma Jones, Holly Aird, Ray Stevenson
• Directors: Paul Greengrass
• Writers: Richard Hawkins
• Producers: Anant Singh, David M. Thompson, Helena Spring, Paul Janssen, Ruth Caleb
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• VHS Release Date: May 25, 1999
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0780626028
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,537 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Richard (Kenneth Branagh) is a frustrated artist plunging into a midlife crisis. He dumps his rather stuffy, professional girlfriend and tears apart his paintings to make a hang glider out of the canvases and stretchers. His maiden flight with the device lands him in court, where he is assigned community service. His first assignment is to serve as assistant to Jane (Helena Bonham Carter), a young woman with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS). The disease is in its final stages, but she handles it with a bushel of attitude, her brain as sharp as ever. The two don't get off on the right foot, but eventually she reveals to him that she has yet to lose her virginity and would like for him to help arrange that to happen. He strikes on the distinctly harebrained idea of robbing a bank to pay for an oily gigolo, leading to some rather out-of-place comic scenes. Meanwhile, Richard has been cobbling together an airplane out of more paintings and garden-variety junk; the contraption makes the Wright Brothers' machine look like an F-15 fighter. Despite some missteps, The Theory of Flight is a funny, engaging character study; what could have been a maudlin, sentimental tearjerker is made very humane and believable by the performances of the two leads. Branagh's Richard is a craggy, troubled man who finds redemption in his friendship with Jane; the dynamic of their relationship (in contrast to the others' in Jane's life) causes one to think about the patronizing way we often deal with the disabled. --Jerry Renshaw

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helena Bonham Carter does it again!, May 28, 2000

By 

k2 "k2" (Cleveland, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Theory of Flight [VHS] (VHS Tape)

After such memorable roles in "The Wings of the Dove" and "Margaret's Museum," Helena Bonham Carter delivers another magnificent performance, and one that is very close to her heart. Ms. Bonham Carter's father has motor neurone disease, so she is able to plumb the depths of her personal experience. True, she had to modify it a little to be accessible to audiences. At the same time, she and Kenneth Branagh were having a personal relationship, adding another level of complexity. Still, instead of being a totally depressing film, it is a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking, but always up-lifting experience. Why did it not find an audience? New Line Cinema did not seem to advertise it. Or perhaps, was it too realistic? In today's Hollywood, "realism" is defined as explicit sex scenes and gory violence. But I suppose films about people with disabilities and the complexities of the human heart are considered "too" realistic. Cheers to Helena Bonham Carter and Kenneth Branagh for tackling a controversial subject with such bravado and award winning quality.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Scene cut reduces star rating., April 20, 2002

By 

Charles Wright (Birmingham, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Theory of Flight [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Although this is a British film (and was partly produced by the B.B.C.)it has not been released on videotape or DVD in the United Kingdom.

Having seen the film on B.B.C. television I bought a video recording from the U.S.A. I received the tape ... very speedily but I was surprised to find that an important final scene has been omitted from the American version of the film. In this scene Richard Hopkins (K. Branagh) marries his girlfriend played by Holly Aird whilst Jane Hatchard (H. Bonham Carter) looks on from the pews. At this time it is apparant that Janes' condition has deteriorated as she has lost her voice and needs to use the speaking machine continually.

This scene is very poignant and makes a most appropriate end to the film. Without it the film seems to terminate very abruptly and without the pathos provided by the missing scene. I know little of film production and can only assume that this (misguided) cut was made simply to reduce the running time to a length someone (?) deemed suitable.

A four star film has thus been reduced to three stars.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFUL!!! I couldn't stop crying., October 18, 1999

By 

Hiroe (Irvine, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Theory of Flight [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I went to see this movie with my husband who had had ALS (Lou Gehrig desease, the same desease as the heroine's) and passed away last month. We both were very touched and couldn't stop crying. You will like it, even if you are not familiar with this serious desease. It's a wonderful story that moves everyone to tears.