Marie Curie: The Courage of Knowledge

Marie Noelle’s recent bio-drama looks at some of the remarkable life of Marie Skłodowska Curie, the Polish-born, Paris-based scientist who made significant discoveries in radioactive materials and its uses. Noelle’s film dabbles in the scientific, but its chief focus is in depicting the complete being of Curie, portrayed here by the steady but somewhat ethereal Karolina Gruszka. Curie was a scientist, research collaborator, mother (and single mother), lover and pioneer in a time and a field that did not welcome women. It is the sort of film that manages to incorporate languid baths and a duel (!) with obtuse conversations with Einstein and an overt feminist message.