★★★★

DIRECTOR: Marjane Satrapi (the voices)
STARRING: rosamund pike, sam riley, anya taylor-joy and aneurin barnard

REVIEWER: emily carter

Pioneer - Rebel - Genius. Radioactive is incredible, true-story of Marie Curie and her Nobel Prize-winning work that changed the world.

The dramatic tale of Marie Curie is not without radioactivity, and the discovery of radioactivity is not without Marie Curie. From when science was not a woman's work, Radioactive is an often haunting biopic telling an enthralling true story.

At the end of the 19th century, scientist Marie Curie (Rosamumd Pike) is simply fighting for a space to study science, all while on the very verge of making a huge scientific breakthrough. Science is a venture reserved for men, so Marie has vowed to spend her life on the subject. She meets Pierre Curie (Sam Riley) and battles her independence with her love for a fellow scientist. But this is much, much more than a love story. The real match in this tale is radium and polonium. Marie's groundbreaking discovery that holds life and death in its hands.

Pike is a favourite of mine that always shines, whether in Pride and Prejudice, Gone Girl or a Private War. She portrays Marie Curie as a woman torn in a million directions, absolutely committed to her studies, even when their mystery is potentially trumped by their threat.

The film directed by Marjane Satrapi is hugely detail-orientated and splices scenes with time hops and jumps throughout. While sometimes slightly jarring or confusing, it can't be denied that the decision was powerful. It lays out to the audience how the science that invented x-rays and chemotherapy is the same science behind Hiroshima. And it all ties back to Marie's life's work.

Radioactive is visually beautiful and dramatic, the film throws you from one side of the story to the other, and the cast draws you deeply into this often unbelievable true story. It's a concoction that makes a truly memorable film. The sweet scientist you learnt about in school is beyond everything you thought, and science is perhaps even scarier.

Radioactive is a cleverly crafted film that presents a haunting true story in an undeniably beautiful way.