Academy Award winner Gwyneth Paltrow of “Se7en” (1995) and “Shakespeare in Love” (1998) notoriety depicts the daughter of a mentally ill mathematical genius in 2005’s “Proof.” Starring opposite Paltrow is Jake Gyllenhaal whose past works include “Donnie Darko” (2001) and “The Day After Tomorrow” (2004). Welsh Hollywood veteran Anthony Hopkins portrays Paltrow’s daughter in the film, a man perhaps most popularly known in cotemporary times as Hannibal Lecter in 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs.” British Oscar Award winning filmmaker John Madden directs this emotionally stirring piece following the success of 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love.”
Robert (Hopkins) is a brilliant mathematician who made groundbreaking discoveries in his field at the young age of 22. His proofs have earned him recognition across the globe and a faculty position in the University of Chicago’s math department. However at the height of his career Robert began exhibiting signs of mental illness, specifically delusions. A man who once spent hours writing complex theorems on sheets of paper devolved into a recluse filling notebooks with nonsense.
Catherine (Paltrow) shares her father’s love of math, though remains humbled by his genius; despite her own, possibly equal skill in the field she rarely reveals it to Robert, fearful that she will disappoint him. In fact, at one point in the film Robert taunts the 27-year-old Catherine by stating, “at your age I had already completed my greatest work!” Cahterine wanted to escape the shadows of her father and attended graduate school at the prestigious Northwestern University. However when she returned one cold winter and discovered her father scribbling equations on a freezing front porch, as if it were summertime, she realized that Robert desperately needed her care.
For the following years Robert’s daughter would remain by his side, listening to him ramble about incoherent ideas and sharing her mathematical work with him. Though delusional Robert would have occasionally moments of lucidity; at one point he was able to return to teaching for an entire year before relapsing. Inevitably he would pass away, leaving behind his loving daughter who is now beginning to display the symptoms of the family’s mental disease.
The professor had a loyal former student: Harold “Hal” Dobbs (Jake Gyllenhaal). Hal was convinced that despite Robert’s illness he had discovered important proofs during his moments of lucidity. The academic disciple began rummaging through his professor’s desk drawers, hoping to find another unearthed work of genius. This was met with suspicion by Catherine who was certain Hal was attempting to exploit her father’s work for his own good.
In time the couple would form a close bond, strengthened by their admiration of the same man. With Hal’s companionship and understanding Catherine would finally discover her hidden genius and quite possibly find love.
Some similarities can be drawn between “Proof” and the similarly themed “A Beautiful Mind” (2001), namely the concept of a mentally ill mathematical genius. Yet that is where the similarities end. Madden’s work delves into the personal experience of battling an inherited disease while “A Beautiful Mind” attempts to bring viewers into John Nash’s chaotic world.
“Proof” is rated PG-13 for some sexual content, language and drug references. Its runtime is 100 minutes.