The Aeronauts

The Aeronauts is a 2019 biographical adventure film directed by Tom Harper and written by Jack Thorne, from a story co-written by Thorne and Harper. The film is based on the 2013 book Falling Upwards: How We Took to the Air by Richard Holmes. Produced by Todd Lieberman, David Hoberman, and Harper, the film stars Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Himesh Patel and Tom Courtenay. The film had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival on 30 August 2019, followed by a showing at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in the United Kingdom on 4 November 2019, and in the United States on 6 December 2019. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics but was a box-office bomb. Plot In 1862 London, pilot Amelia Wren and scientist James Glaisher arrive for the launch of the largest balloon ever constructed. Despite being haunted by a vision of her late husband Pierre, Amelia keeps up the brave front and the balloon launches to a cheering crowd. In a flashback, James appears before the Royal Society and explains his theory that the weather can be predicted but his fellow scientists mock him and refuse to finance his studies. Returning home, he talks to his parents, who try to persuade him to pursue another avenue of science. On the balloon, James and Amelia start rising through the cloud layer. They soon run into a violent storm which sends the balloon spinning. In a flashback, Amelia is persuaded by her sister Antonia to attend a society function. There, Amelia is approached by James and he asks if she would be willing to pilot his balloon in a privately funded expedition while he attempts to prove his theories, to which she agrees. Although James suffers a head injury while being thrown around, he and Amelia make it through the storm and continue rising. James releases the first of five pigeons carrying messages stating their altitude along with other scientific readings in case they don't survive. They discover an air current which is home to a group of butterflies, confirming a theory of James' friend John Trew that insects can travel on air currents. In a flashback, as James practices for the flight, Amelia visits to tell him she has changed her mind. Eventually, the balloon exceeds , beating the record for the highest altitude.