Proof (2005 film)
Encyclopedia
Proof is a 2005 American drama film
directed by John Madden
and starring Anthony Hopkins
, Gwyneth Paltrow
, Jake Gyllenhaal
, and Hope Davis
; it was written by Rebecca Miller
, based on David Auburn
's Pulitzer Prize
-winning play of the same title
.
, 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.
. The film adds many bit part
s 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.
was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama for Proof, but lost to Felicity Huffman
.
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”.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by John Madden
John Madden (director)
John Philip Madden is an English director of theatre, film, television, and radio.- Biography :Madden was educated at Clifton College. He was in the same house as friend and fellow director Roger Michell. He began his career in British independent films, and graduated from the University of...
and starring Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins
Sir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
, Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
, Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal
Jacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
, and Hope Davis
Hope Davis
Hope Davis is an American actress. She has starred in more than 20 feature films, including About Schmidt, Arlington Road, Flatliners, Mumford, American Splendor, The Lodger and Next Stop Wonderland....
; it was written by Rebecca Miller
Rebecca Miller
Rebecca Augusta Miller is an American film director, screenwriter and actress, most known for her films Personal Velocity: Three Portraits , The Ballad of Jack and Rose, and Angela,and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee all of which she wrote and directed.-Life and career:Born in Roxbury,...
, based on David Auburn
David Auburn
David Auburn is an American playwright.He was raised in Ohio and Arkansas. He attended the University of Chicago, where he was a member of Off-Off Campus, and received a degree in English literature....
's Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning play of the same title
Proof (play)
Proof is a play by David Auburn originally produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club on 23 May 2000. It then went to Broadway on 24 October 2000 at the Walter Kerr Theatre, and was directed by Daniel J. Sullivan, with Mary-Louise Parker as Catherine, Larry Bryggman as Robert, Ben Shenkman as Hal, and...
.
Plot
In ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, 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 PaltrowGwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
as Catherine, the protagonistProtagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify... - Anthony HopkinsAnthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
as Robert, Catherine and Claire's father - Jake GyllenhaalJake GyllenhaalJacob Benjamin "Jake" Gyllenhaal is an American actor. The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age ten...
as Harold "Hal" Dobbs, a former student of Robert's - Hope DavisHope DavisHope Davis is an American actress. She has starred in more than 20 feature films, including About Schmidt, Arlington Road, Flatliners, Mumford, American Splendor, The Lodger and Next Stop Wonderland....
as Claire, Catherine's sister
Production
The film is based on the four-character stage play ProofProof (play)
Proof is a play by David Auburn originally produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club on 23 May 2000. It then went to Broadway on 24 October 2000 at the Walter Kerr Theatre, and was directed by Daniel J. Sullivan, with Mary-Louise Parker as Catherine, Larry Bryggman as Robert, Ben Shenkman as Hal, and...
. The film adds many bit part
Bit part
A bit part is a supporting acting role with at least one line of dialogue . In British television, bit parts are referred to as under sixes...
s for the sake of realism, and "opens up" the setting considerably. The role of Catherine was first played by Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker
Mary-Louise Parker is an American actress, known for her current lead role on Showtime's television series Weeds portraying Nancy Botwin, for which she has received several nominations and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2006...
in the play's 2000 Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
original production. Gwyneth Paltrow played Catherine in a London stage production
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
before being cast in the film.
Hopkins' character is a mathematics professor at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
. 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
Midway Plaisance
The Midway Plaisance, also known locally as the Midway, is a park on the South Side of the city of Chicago, Illinois. It is one mile long by 220 yards wide and extends along 59th and 60th streets, joining Washington Park at its east end and Jackson Park at its west end. It divides the Hyde Park...
and shows many scenes in the quadrangle before Harper Library.
Release
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 PaltrowGwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama for Proof, but lost to Felicity Huffman
Felicity Huffman
Felicity Kendall Huffman is an American film, stage, and television actress. She is known for her role as executive producer Dana Whitaker on the ABC television show Sports Night , which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination, and as hectic supermom Lynette Scavo on the ABC show Desperate...
.
Mathematical relevance
Since 1993 (when Andrew WilesAndrew Wiles
Sir Andrew John Wiles KBE FRS is a British mathematician and a Royal Society Research Professor at Oxford University, specializing in number theory...
first claimed to have proved Fermat's Last Theorem
Fermat's Last Theorem
In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two....
), there have been several feature films about mathematicians, notably Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting is a 1997 drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård...
(1997), A Beautiful Mind
A Beautiful Mind (film)
A Beautiful Mind is a 2001 American drama film based on the life of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics. The film was directed by Ron Howard and written by Akiva Goldsman. It was inspired by a bestselling, Pulitzer Prize-nominated 1998 book of the same name by Sylvia Nasar...
(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
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal, officially known as International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics, is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians not over 40 years of age at each International Congress of the International Mathematical Union , a meeting that takes place every four...
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”.