Proof
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Movie Reviews of Proof
Movie Review: In A World Of Uncertainty, A Little Proof Is Welcome
Summary: 5 Stars
There's a wonderful moment late in Proof where Catherine, Gwyneth Paltrow, says sadly to Hal, Jake Gyllenhaal, "I think I'm like my father." Hal, beaming, says, "You are."
What is so marvelous about this exchange is that both statements are correct, but the interaction is a case study in flawed data interpretation. Catherine means that she's afraid she is mad, like her father. Indeed there is evidence enough that at the very least she is emotionally fragile and will succumb to serious mental illness at some point. But Hal is looking right through her fears, he means that she is like her father in that she is a brilliant mathematician. Ironically it is perhaps the latter of the two possibilities that causes Catherine greater fear.
The other spellbinding moment is when she finally reads her father's great proof out loud to him, as he demands. Without spoiling it I'll just say that this brief scene illustrates the essential truth of the movie so powerfully that it is breathtaking.
Proof was originally a play, so the emphasis is on dialogue, beat, structure, nuance, and revelation. Director Madden also gave us Shakespeare In Love, with Paltrow, so you know from the start you are in for a quality production. Jake Gyllenhaal is faultless as a young man fearlessly going where a wiser man would not, because Paltrow's Catherine, while beguiling, is trouble. This is perhaps the movie's greatest power, and Paltrow gives the best performance I've ever seen her give.
Catherine is a woman of contradictions, strong yet brittle, selfless yet self-absorbed, generous yet resentful, brash yet timid. She maintains this highly nuanced state throughout the film, and even though we cannot understand her, (as she cannot understand herself), frequently become impatient with her, wonder if she put herself in the role of victim in order to wallow in it and use it as a weapon against others, we never stop caring about her and hoping she'll be all right.
This is a slightly different Paltrow, a little older, a little tougher, and her performance is incredibly confident - really a pleasure. About Anthony Hopkins what can one say, he is such a fire horse that at this point he must carry around a handful of performances like this in his hip pocket at all times - that said, he is absolutely on target.
The sleeper in this movie is Hope Davis as Claire, Catherine's sister. She is Catherine's anti-matter, and their confrontations reveal much not just about them but also about their father. With her "To-Do" lists, which she neatly checks off, her clipped speech, and precise thoughts about Catherine's future, Claire is the Uber-Yuppie from heck we all fear. The irony is that once we get beyond our initial dread we see that she has some valid points. Even the most elegant solution must be tested, Claire helps. A rich and deeply satisfying film.
Movie Review: Adding up the evidence
Summary: 5 Stars
Proof boasts prize-winning source material and an excellent cast. What more can one ask for?
The film stayed very true to the original stage play, telling the tale of a young woman named Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow), who dropped out of college to care for Robert, her mentally ill father (Anthony Hopkins) who also happens to be a famous mathematician. After Robert passes away, Catherine (already a little socially awkward), is lost, rambling around his old house by herself. Graduate student Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal) requests her permission to sift through the copious notebooks that Robert produced during his decline, hoping to find the next mathematical breakthrough in their pages. Catherine assents, and the two begin a tentative relationship. When Catherine points Hal to a locked drawer in her father's study, he is thrilled to discover a very important, groundbreaking proof that he immediately attributes to her father. When Catherine divulges that she herself wrote it, both Hal and her estranged sister Claire (Hope Davis), who has flown from New York to Chicago to attend the funeral, doubt her assertion. Catherine already fears that, with her father's talent for math, she has also inherited his tendency towards madness. She reacts strongly to the betrayal, and Hal must try to prove that he does have faith in her.
What's interesting about the script is that the audience doesn't know until the end just which of the characters to believe. Did Catherine write the proof, or did she steal it from her ailing father? Did her father still have possession of his faculties in his decline, or was he incapable of writing the proof? Is Hal sticking around because he really likes Catherine, or does he want her to let her guard down just enough to allow him to make off with the mathematical prize he's looking for? This tension makes the film (and the play) work. The material's no slouch. David Auburn won both a Pulitzer and a Tony for the play this film is based on.
All the performances in this film were very strong. Paltrow particularly shined, rendering Catherine as shy, awkward, and afraid of her own potential talent/madness. I thought her treatment of the character was very original; I haven't seen her perform in a role like this before. She played this same role to stellar reviews on Broadway, and her reprisal of Catherine in the film is delicate and layered. I really enjoyed her.
Movie Review: A Perfectly Integrated Film, Played as a Fine String Quartet
Summary: 5 Stars
PROOF is one of those rare films that transfers a superb play directly to the screen without losing a bit of the power of the play, but enhancing the story with the advantages of the camera. With a tough story like this one it takes a brilliant cast and director to fine-tune the work and in this instance it all works to perfection.
The story is well known from all the PR of the theatrical screening: recounting it in a review does not add or subtract the importance of the film or the experience of the viewer. The premise, mathematician Robert (Anthony Hopkins) and his caretaker daughter Catherine (Gweneth Paltrow) who also is an uncommonly bright 27-year-old mathematics mind and has spent the glowing years of her youth caring for her recently deceased father. They converse in flashbacks, a means of realizing the closeness of their bond emotionally, mentally, and probably parallel mental illness proclivities. Robert left notebooks filled with thoughts and clues to a complex mathematical proof and Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), a devoted admirer of Robert's genius, is organizing the thoughts and deciphering the meanings of Robert's scribblings. Catherine's estranged sister Claire (Hope Davis) arrives to 'settle' the matters left by Robert's demise and becomes the camera that brings focus to the fact that Catherine has inherited not only her father's genius but his mental fragility as well. How this quartet - Robert, Catherine, Hal, Claire - serve to unravel the findings of Robert's (and Catherine's) legacy is the essence of this gripping tale.
A more powerful group of actors for this film would be difficult to find. One expects the brilliance of Paltrow's performance since she had time with the character on the stage, and Hopkins can toss these bizarre characters off with grace and aplomb. But it is the pleasure of seeing Davis and Gyllenhaal rise to the same level of expertise that makes the film glow. This is an example of ensemble acting of the highest form and director Madden conducts the performance with sensitivity and momentum. The result is a treasureable, intelligent, powerful film that challenges the mind while entertaining all the senses. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, February 06
Movie Review: INTELLIGENT - A WINNER !!!
Summary: 5 Stars
"Proof" is one of the most intelligent movies I have ever seen.
It is the story of a mathematical genius (Anthony Hopkins) who has developed schitzophrenia in his later years,and his Daughter(Gwenyth Paltrow) who cares for him during his ongoing illness.
While everyone who comes in contact with him sees a crazy man, on the inside of his gifted mind he is solving a mathamatical proof that has eluded mathmaticians for years...or so we think.
The Father dies, and
only the Daughter knows of his work, until she gives it to her boyfriend (Jake Gyllenhaal)as a sort of gift, as he knew her Father well, and was one of his students.
She later confesses that SHE wrote the proof, and we are taken through flashbacks of when her Father was alive, to see who after all wrote this groundbreaking equation.We find out in a very revealing unforgettable way, when the Father reads his out loud.
His "proof" is nothing but a bunch of gibber-jabber that makes absolutely NO sense. -something about the months of the years and so forth.
After being forced by her father to read it out loud, Her heart breaks for her him, because he is so senile, and she puts HER proof in HIS drawer, and locks it, and there it stays until she retrives it and gives it to Jake Gylenhaal.
Another drama that plays out in this movie is that the Daughter thinks she is also mentally ill like her Father, and will end up like him.
Hope Davis, who plays her sister also believes that her sister is crazy, too.
I, myself, did not believe her to be crazy at all, only a little lonely, and isolated from caring for her father, yet the worry about it plagues her.
I have read some of the other reviews where people say this movie was so confusing. I think it made perfect sense the first viewing. The flashbacks were merely to explain the mysteries,not put there to confuse.
This movie makes you question if there is any truth to the belief that there is a thin line between genius, and maddness.This movie is based on the pulitzer prize winning play, and is well worth renting, or better yet, adding to your collection...You WILL want to own it.
Movie Review: Great performances make a timeless movie
Summary: 5 Stars
By reading some of the previous reviews, I get the feeling that some people may have been disappointed by the fact that the plot of the movie is somewhat simple. This is not an adventure movie; it is a character study, a journey into genius and madness, the complexity of family ties, and of relationships growing from intellectual and sentimental attraction. Some call it a thriller and I agree with that. It is a thriller to people who like sensible movies.
The performances of lead and supporting cast members are flawless, believable and touching. Gwyneth Paltrow delivers a performance that I find much more admirable and challenging than the one in "Shakespeare in Love", and if I had to choose, I'd give her the Oscar for this one which I found much more interesting by all means.
Jake Gyllenhaal makes an adorable Hal (even when you wonder about his motives); his confident performance rings absolutely true (he must be every geek's hero now!). Sir Hopkins is his own, usual perfect self.
Hope Davis' character is truly irritating, so I guess she does a great job.
Interestingly, "Proof" does not deliver one single breathtaking moment to replay over and over. It is not "memorable" that way. It is the mood of the whole movie that sticks with you. Dialogues can be quite funny at times (the "jojoba" lines are funny and the "dating the doctoral advisor's daughter", very sweet), and I actually found the "theatrical" sound of them pleasant and interesting.
The editing work is excellent; the flashbacks are carefully spread out through the movie to help build-up and understand the complexity of the "present". If anybody finds the succession of past and present scenes confusing, one must consider that maybe there is a relevance to that. The main character is confused and has lived in confusion for several years, to a point where she is afraid to be "like her father." And she is not thinking about his genius when she says that...
This movie is delicate and sensitive; it will still be as true and interesting as it is now in ten or fifteen years from now. It has timeless qualities.