Great knowledge comes from the humblest of origins
The Man Who Knew Infinity is a 2015 Biographical Historical Drama based on the 1991 book of the same name about pioneering self-taught Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan who grew up in poverty but proved himself to be highly skilled in mathematics, after he began corresponding with English mathematician G.H. Hardy he was invited to attend Cambridge University during World War I where he faced many struggles both socially and academically as he tries to gets his works published.
It stars Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons, Devika Bhise, Toby Jones and Stephen Fry.
Tropes
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Ramanujan. Dev Patel is way more conventionally attractive than his short and stout historical counterpart.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Hardy. The real man was nowhere as demanding and stubborn in his ways as the biopic makes him out to be. He was well aware of and accommodating of Ramanujan's lack of formal Western education, to the point that he treated him more lenient than he otherwise might have done so as not to discourage or disappoint him.
- Age Lift: A sixty-something Irons plays Hardy at a time in the latter's life when he was almost half as old. Ramanujan's wife is significantly aged up to a twenty-something.
- Bollywood Nerd: Ramanujan counts due to his affinity for mathematics.
- Fish out of Water: When Ramanujan arrives in England he is unfamiliar with most of the customs and the rules of the university.
- Hollywood History:
- There is no evidence to suggest that the real Hardy, while queer, had romantic interest in Ramanujan.
- The difference in temperaments in the two mathematicians is exaggerated for dramatic effect. Hardy was not as strict as he is made out to be in the film, and Ramanujan was nowhere as extroverted and sociable as he appears.
- Likewise, the racist attitudes and related problems are exaggerated, and several events are entirely made up.
- The romance between Ramanujan and his wife is wholly fictional.
- Homoerotic Subtext: It's heavily suggested that Hardy is gay and falls in love with Ramanujan in the course of the movie.Hardy: [on Ramanujan] I owe more to him than to anyone else in the world, and my association with him is the one romantic incident of my life.
- Ignored Expert: Due to having no formal training, a lack of proofs and racial prejudice, Ramanujan’s works are dismissed by most of the professors, with the exception of Hardy and Littlewood.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Ramanujan‘s mother is implied to be My Beloved Smother towards Ramanujan and she is also very cold and cruel towards his wife Janaki, even going as far as to intercept and withhold letters that Janaki and Ramanujan sent to each other.
- Shipper on Deck: Andrew Hartley. He has one minute of screentime, but he uses it well by hinting at Hardy's romantic interest in Ramanujan. Twice.Andrew Hartley: His father was a schoolteacher. Not exactly Trinity stock. Hardy's earned it on his own merits. It's probably why he's taken to you.
Ramanujan: Does he have a wife?
Andrew Hartley: No. He's married to his work, as they say. I suppose that means you now.
