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PROOF (2005) (***1/2)

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Based on the stage play by David Auburn, this film deals with a daughter’s fear that she may have inherited her father’s mathematical brilliance as well as his insanity.

Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE) has been taking care of her father Robert (Anthony Hopkins, HOWARDS END), a renowned mathematician, for years. She has put her own studies in Math on hold to care for her father. Now Robert has died and her sister Claire (Hope Davis, AMERICAN SPLENDOR) has come for a memorial and to set his affairs in order. Claire worries that Catherine is becoming more and more unstable. Into the mix comes Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal, DONNIE DARKO), an assistant of Robert’s who is searching his many notebooks for a proof that could revolutionize the field. Catherine shows him one, but the authorship is brought into question.

The film deals with issues of family, legacy and the burden of promise. Catherine in many ways lives in the shadow of her accomplished father and greatly fears that she has inherited more than just his intellect. Hal admires Catherine and a trust builds quickly between them. However, Claire is a different story. She doesn’t have the gifts of her father and sister and questions their motives and behavior, building a level of suspicion around everything.

John Madden (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE), who directed Paltrow in the stage version, brings compelling power to the story, which deals with a subject that most people in the audience have not idea about. The brilliance of the storytelling is that we care about this epic proof as if we know exactly what it means. In adapting his own play, Auburn is able to make the film more cinematic. Some early moments feel stagy, but the driving force of the narrative makes us quickly forget the story’s legit origins and just move along with the characters and their journey. Stretching the time frame of the story might have been a good thing, but it’s only a minor quibble in an otherwise solid drama.

Paltrow gives one of her best performances. Hopkins, Gyllenhaal and Davis are all up for the challenge as well. Sometimes the mystery of a character’s mind is more gripping than any chase scene or who done it can ever be.

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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks