Movie Review – Proof with Anthony Hopkins and Gwyneth Paltrow (2005)

The movie Proof is based on David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name which also won the 2001 Tony Award for Best Play.

The film is less about the discipline of mathematics than about family and collegial relationships. The unique premise opens with Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) caring for her father Robert (Anthony Hopkins), a renowned mathematician whose mental capabilities have deteriorated.

Flashbacks and flash forwards present a picture of a somewhat fractured family as Catherine’s sister Claire (Hope Davis) comes upon the scene only at the end when their father’s funeral is planned for the following day. Claire has her own life in New York City and has little regard for the demoralizing effect that Robert’s illness has had on Catherine.

Catherine has acquired the same mathematical ability that distinguished Robert in an earlier day. However, Claire suspects that her sister has also inherited her father’s mental condition.

Along comes a savior in the person of Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), a former student of Robert who has also been attracted to Catherine for some time. Catherine allows Hal to rummage through her father’s mountain of notebooks in the hope that Robert had described some insights or solutions that would be valuable for today’s circle of mathematicians.

The afore-mentioned flashbacks reveal that Catherine had worked closely with Robert during one year of remission when he was able to resume his work. Hal excitedly reveals that one of the notebooks contains the Proof of a mathematical calculation that scholars had pored over for years without success.

In a less than lucid moment, Catherine quietly states that she had written the solution rather than Robert. Both Hal and Claire are in disbelief and Claire presses for her plan to take Catherine to New York with her so that she can be looked after.

Catherine is devastated at the news along with the fact that Claire has taken it upon herself to sell the family home, leaving Catherine with no prospects of remaining where she is most comfortable.

Is Catherine deluded in stating that the Proof was her work or is it the work of her father? Can she ever trust Hal again after he sides with Claire that Catherine is mentally disturbed?

Gwyneth Paltrow was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture Drama. She had previously been nominated for the Olivier Award in London for her West End stage debut as Catherine in the play Proof. I consider Proof one of the best pictures I have seen this year.

Sources:

Movie – Proof (2005)

www.imdb.com/title/tt0377107

http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/news/latest-news/article/item71427/paltrow-and-watson-nominated-for-best-actress-olivier