Despite a stage-bound script, this story of family politics and mathematical genius is intriguing and fairly involving
Proof (2005)
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Reviews Counted:130
Fresh:82
Rotten:48
Average Rating:6.5/10
Consensus: Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins give exceptional performances in a film that intelligently tackles the territory between madness and genius.
Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Gwyneth Paltrow, who won an Oscar for her performance in director John Madden's SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, teams up again with Madden in PROOF, a poignant drama based on David Auburn's Pulitzer... Gwyneth Paltrow, who won an Oscar for her performance in director John Madden's SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, teams up again with Madden in PROOF, a poignant drama based on David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Paltrow lights up the screen as Catherine, a young woman who has given up a seemingly bright future in order to take care of her ailing father, Robert (Anthony Hopkins), a formerly brilliant mathematician who went crazy. After he dies, Catherine's closed-off world is invaded by Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), a young mathematician who worshipped Robert, and Claire (Hope Davis), her successful sister who fears that Catherine is too much like their father--a talented, supremely intelligent person with severe mental problems. During the last years of his life, Robert filled 103 notebooks with his writings, but one of them, written during a brief period of lucidity, could turn the math world on its head, while also threatening Catherine's already wavering sanity. Auburn co-wrote the screenplay with Rebecca Miller (PERSONAL VELOCITY, THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE), taking it off the stage, setting it in and around Chicago, and breathing new life into the story, along with Stephen Warbeck's compelling score and plenty of outstanding acting, particularly by the glowing Paltrow and the earnest Gyllenhaal. [More]
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hope Davis
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Jake Gyllenhaal, Hope Davis, Gary Houston, Colin Stinton, Roshan Seth
Director: John Madden, James D. Stern
Director: John Madden
Screenwriter: Rebecca Miller
Producer: Jeff Sharp, John N. Hart, Robert Kessel, Alison Owen, Bob Weinstein
Director: James D. Stern
Composer: Stephen Warbeck
Screenwriter: David Auburn
Studio: Miramax Films
Reviews for Proof
For patient viewers, it does offer a carefully considered and ultimately inspiring examination of how the need for order and logic is less important than a willingness to embrace chaos.
Jake Gyllenhaal brings a certain geeky sweetness and enthusiasm to his role as Hal. There's also genuine chemistry between him and Gwyneth, even if she seems a little too old for him.
Paltrow is left alone, much like Catherine, suffering and longing for someone — anyone — to come up to her level. No one ever does.
Catherine is an infinitely less convincing version of Arcadia's girl genius; the proof is just a MacGuffin; it runs out of plot and has not one idea in its head.
Like the best play-to-movie adaptations, it leaves us feeling that we've had a powerful and enriching theatrical experience.
The graceful discipline of math theory sits in stark contrast to the ugly realities of dementia, a collective contrast crackling with melodramatic vigor.
Unconvincing Proof deflates the mathematical experience through a morose script and a pacing that is melancholic.
It's not just that [Paltrow] has trouble playing the part of a math genius; she seems to have trouble at times playing the part of a human being.
Proof is a stirring motion picture that challenges our views on a great many things about life, some of which we take for granted.
Although she tends to get actressy in her work, Paltrow's Catherine is a believable portrait of loss and grief.
offers a convincing demonstration of the theorem that good writing and sensitive performances can equal an engaging and nuanced piece of cinema.
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