Proof (2005)

The daughter of a brilliant but mentally disturbed mathematician, recently deceased, tries to come to grips with her possible inheritance: his insanity. Complicating matters are one of her father's ex-students who wants to search through his papers and her estranged sister who shows up to help settle his affairs.

Director:

John Madden

Writers:

David Auburn (play), David Auburn (screenplay),

Stars:

Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Catherine
Anthony Hopkins	...	Robert
Jake Gyllenhaal	...	Harold Dobbs - Hal
Danny McCarthy	...	Cop
Hope Davis	...	Claire
Tobiasz Daszkiewicz	...	Limo Driver (as Tobiacz Daszkiewicz)
Gary Houston	...	Professor Barrow
Anne Wittman	...	Friend at Party
Leigh Zimmerman	...	Friend at Party
Colin Stinton	...	Theoretical Physicist
Leland Burnett	...	Band Vocalist
John Keefe	...	University Friend
Chipo Chung	...	University Friend
C. Gerod Harris	...	University Friend (as C Gerod Harris)
Roshan Seth	...	Professor Bhandari

Storyline

The daughter of a brilliant but mentally disturbed mathematician (recently deceased) tries to come to grips with her possible inheritance: his insanity. Complicating matters are one of her father's ex-students who wants to search through his papers and her estranged sister who shows up to help settle his affairs.

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Plot Keywords:

mathematician | notebook | mathematics | proof | birthday | 

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Taglines:

Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning play by David Auburn

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content, language and drug references

Details

Official Sites:

Miramax [us] Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 September 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

{proof}

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$57,997 (Brazil) (11 August 2006)

Gross:

$197,971 (Brazil) (11 August 2006)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Miramax Films, Endgame Entertainment, Hart-Sharp Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gwyneth Paltrow was pregnant with Apple Martin while filming.

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Goofs

The daughter talks about how the father was looking for a message from aliens in the Dewey decimal call numbers on the books from the University of Chicago library. The University of Chicago uses Library of Congress call numbers, which begin with letters, not numbers.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Robert: [stirring her out of a dream] Can't sleep?
Catherine: Oh, Jesus! Oh, you scared me.

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Connections

Referenced in Gettin' It (2006)

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Soundtracks

"I'll Never Be (Your Maggie May)"
(1991)
Composed and Performed by Suzanne Vega
© Waifersongs Ltd./WB Music Corp
By kind permission of Warner/Chappell Music Ltd
Courtesy of Polydor UK Music Limited
Licensed by kind permission from The Universal Film & TV Licensing Division

User Reviews

X * Y = Z. No Mathematical Proof, but a Proof nonetheless.

GWYNETH, GWYNETH, GWYNETH! Not having been overly impressed with any of her previous performances, in Proof, Gwyneth Paltrow brings a highly emotional, nuanced, and so finely-tuned performance, I must say this movie this movie a stand-out.

She inhabits her character so fully, I was pulled in and so completely entranced the entire time. In fact, certain words or phrases are reused and have an uncanny allusion to when they were previously said. The effect as that you experience and follow the moments, and the thoughts of the characters, even though they are so deeply imbedded within. I credit Gwyneth and the director with making this work so well. I've never experienced such an organic link between phrases separated in time in a movie before. Wow!

This is a movie about how a daughter, her sister, and a grad student deal with the passing of a great mathematician. While there may be similarities with 'A Beautiful Mind' and even 'Good Will Hunting', knowing there are any such links didn't help me with this movie and I think actually does a dis-service. This movie stands on its own. Ignore any such comparisons.

Acting-wise, there were strong performances all around with Anthony Hopkins giving a top-notch performance. Jake Gyllenhaal's was strong, but perhaps not to the level of his rather awesome performance in Brokeback Mountain.

Good things aside, the one thing that irked me about this film, was that given the strong link to mathematics, how unbelievable some of the dialogue was regarding the 'math. While Gwyneth's and Hopkins' characters pulled off a sense of mathematical intelligence, Jake's character hardly said anything mathematically competent and even came across as flustered in expressing himself mathematically leaving me feeling cheated. In my view, this is chiefly the fault of the screenplay but to a lesser extent in the actor's portrayal. Ignore this rather small point, and this movie passes with flying colours. Q.E.D.