Agora

Rachel Weisz plays Hypatia, the mathematician and philosopher who taught in Alexandria at the end of the fourth century AD, as the city is torn apart by conflict between pagans, Christians and Jews. The film follows her teaching, her search for the true shape of the planets’ orbits and her doomed position between rival factions.

The production is beautiful, with a recreated Alexandria and the library of the Serapeum, and Weisz brings intelligence and quiet strength to the role. Some of the science is speculative, as there is no evidence that Hypatia anticipated Kepler’s elliptical orbits, and events years apart are compressed for drama.

Still, the film captures something important about the fragility of knowledge in times of fanaticism.

Our verdict

A thoughtful film that deserves a wider audience. Pair it with our profile of Hypatia.