Radioactive

Pioneering radiological scientist Marie Curie’s life is nicely summarised in this Amazon movie, a brisk and very traditional science-movie that’s very similar to The Current War: a period piece about a scientist who has to battle through in order to be recognised. Curie fared rather better than Nikola Tesla, but Radioactive has to deal immediately with a standard trope that’s certainly true: Marie Curie née Skłodowska (Rosamund Pike) has to battle against a sexist establishment and comes across as a supremely confident and fiery character whose self-belief sometimes seems to be everything. 

Skłodowska is introduced to Pierre Curie (Sam Riley—who was so fantastic in Control as Ian Curtis, and whose beard here is spectacular) who she initially rebuffs. He is genuinely interested in her science and works hard to persuade her that he’s a kindred spirit. The two work together and engage in a romance that’s beautifully summarised in a sunlit almost soft-focus that contrasts the drab interiors and very early 20th Century science. The couple discover Radium and Polonium and received a joint Nobel Prize. As Alfred Nobel invented something that was used for good and bad purpose, the film deals with the application of radiation on cancer and also its use later on to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These flashes forward to beyond the lives of the Curies is a stylistic choice that works: it puts the science of the past in context, and that’s wonderful. Also very good is the brief look at the products on the market at the time—radium makeup, toothpaste, cigarettes, matches and more—all before the harmful effects were understood.

Curie’s scientific work was what ultimately killed her, but Pierre died before and this left the scientist devastated. In another movie trope, Radioactive opens at the end of Curie’s life and then goes back to the beginning of what defined her—and in Marie’s case that was a lot of achievements and recognition. She was also well recognised after her death, and her work has benefited society. The Marie Curie presented here is fiercely protective of her own intellectual property, and the idea of collaborating with Pierre is not appealing. Somehow Pierre and Marie worked together, and although it’s not smooth all the time, the film shows a very different set of people than the sepia-photograph of the mind’s eye. Rosamund Pike is beautiful and gives Marie a character that steps away from the science. It’s a very real performance that reaches for all the different emotional beats of her life, which you’d struggle to call tragic when there were so many personal and professional achievements. As powerful as their meeting and their romance is the devastation she feels when Pierre dies, but yet she gets up and continues.