Proof (2005 film)

Proof
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Madden
Produced by	Alison Owen Jeff Sharp
Written by	Rebecca Miller
Based on	Proof by David Auburn
Starring	Gwyneth Paltrow Anthony Hopkins Jake Gyllenhaal Hope Davis
Music by	Stephen Warbeck
Cinematography	Alwin Kulcher
Editing by	Mick Audsley
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release date(s)	September 5, 2005
Running time	100 minutes
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$21,725,191

Proof is a 2005 American drama film directed by John Madden and starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Hope Davis; it was written by Rebecca Miller, based on David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same title.

Plot

In Chicago, Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) has been looking after her father, a brilliant mathematician, Robert (Anthony Hopkins), who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia some years before. When he dies, his former student, Harold (Jake Gyllenhaal), goes through his notebooks, hoping to make a discovery. Catherine suspects he may want to steal the credit for himself. Her sister, Claire (Hope Davis), arrives from New York and begins to cast doubts on Catherine's mental state. Catherine begins a relationship with Harold and gives him the key to her father's desk where he finds a notebook containing a proof of an important theorem. She claims it is her own work, but the handwriting appears to be her father's. Everyone, including Catherine herself, begins to doubt her sanity.

The film also deals extensively with the subject of death and dying. The physical death of Robert occurs offstage, but multiple metaphorical deaths including death of career, loss of sanity, and the sex act are portrayed explicitly. The conflict between Catherine and Claire as to which of Robert's many deaths is the "real" one is as contentious as the argument over the authorship of the proof.

Cast

• Gwyneth Paltrow as Catherine, the protagonist
• Anthony Hopkins as Robert, Catherine and Claire's father
• Jake Gyllenhaal as Harold "Hal" Dobbs, a former student of Robert's
• Hope Davis as Claire, Catherine's sister

Production

See also: Proof (play)

The film is based on the four-character stage play Proof. The film adds many bit parts for the sake of realism, and "opens up" the setting considerably. The role of Catherine was first played by Mary-Louise Parker in the play's 2000 Manhattan Theatre Club original production. Gwyneth Paltrow played Catherine in a London stage production before being cast in the film.

Hopkins' character is a mathematics professor at the University of Chicago. Although many scenes were filmed on the university's campus, the mathematics building itself (Eckhart Hall) was not used. Instead, many scenes that were set in the math building were actually shot at the Divinity School. The film opens with a pan of Gwyneth Paltrow's character bicycling across the Midway Plaisance and shows many scenes in the quadrangle before Harper Library.

Reaction

Critical reception and box office

Proof received generally positive reviews from film critics. As of January 2012, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has scored a 63% rating, with an average rating of 6.4 out of 10, based on 139 reviews. Proof opened at #35 in its opening weekend with $193,840 and went on to gross a mild $7,535,331 in the USA and $14,189,860 worldwide.

Awards and nominations

Gwyneth Paltrow was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama for Proof, but lost to Felicity Huffman.

Ghent International Film Festival Awards INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 'THE IMPACT OF MUSIC ON FILM'-Georges Delerue Award for Best Music

• Won: Proof Stephen Warbeck (2005)

Mathematical relevance

Since 1993 (when Andrew Wiles first claimed to have proved Fermat's Last Theorem), there have been several feature films about mathematicians, notably Good Will Hunting (1997), A Beautiful Mind (2001) and Proof (2005). The mathematician Daniel Ullman says “Of these three films, Proof is the one that most realistically illustrates the world of mathematics and mathematicians.” The Fields medalist Timothy Gowers of Cambridge University acted as mathematical consultant, but Ullman praises the director too: “Madden should be credited with capturing the feeling of the mathematical world”.

External links

• Proof at the Internet Movie Database
• Proof at Box Office Mojo
• Proof at Rotten Tomatoes