Paul Bettany in the film Creation _460

CREATION (Cert. PG, 108 mins)
Stars: Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly, Martha West, Jeremy Northam, Toby Jones, Dominic Cumberbatch, Bill Patterson
Directed by Jon Amiel

IN THE year that 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.

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

Based on the book, Annie’s Box, by Randal Keynes, Darwin’s great-great-grandson, 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.

Creation is meticulously crafted, yet somewhat uninvolving.