Proof (2005 film)
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| Proof | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for Proof |
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| Directed by | John Madden |
| Produced by | Alison Owen, Jeff Sharp |
| Written by | David Auburn (also play), Rebecca Miller |
| Starring | Gwyneth Paltrow Anthony Hopkins Jake Gyllenhaal Hope Davis |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | 5 September 2005 |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ US$20,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Proof is a 2005 film starring Anthony Hopkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jake Gyllenhaal. The movie was directed by John Madden, who also directed Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love (1998). Proof was written by David Auburn (who also wrote Proof, the play on which the film is based) and Rebecca Miller. University of Chicago mathematics professor Paul Sally served as academic consultant. The movie was first shown on September 16, 2005. The DVD was released on February 14, 2006.
- Tagline: The biggest risk in life is not taking one. and If you don't believe in yourself, who will believe in you?
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[edit] Plot
Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) has taken care of her father, Robert (Anthony Hopkins), during the last few years of his life battling mental illness. At his funeral, Catherine starts falling apart. She reluctantly allows a mathematician at the University of Chicago, Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal) to review Robert's notebooks. There, amidst a preponderance of nonsensical ramblings, Hal finds an astonishing proof (the topic of which is deliberately left vague) but it can't be ascertained whether it is Catherine or Robert who wrote the proof.
[edit] Setting
The majority of this film takes place in Hyde Park, a neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. 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) was not used. Instead, many scenes that were supposed to be in the math building were shot in 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.
[edit] Trivia
The role of Catherine was first played by Mary-Louise Parker in the play's 2000 Manhattan Theatre Club original production; subsequently, the film's star, Gwyneth Paltrow, played Catherine in a London stage production.
The discussion between Hopkin's and Paltrow's characters about the significance of the number 1729 was based on a real conversation between G. H. Hardy and the famous mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Proof is a four-character play on the stage. The film adds many bit roles for the sake of realism, and "opens up" the setting considerably.
[edit] Memorable quotes
- Robert: Crazy people don't sit around wondering if they're nuts.
- Catherine: They don't?
- Robert: Of course not. They've got better things to do. Take it from me. A very good sign that you're crazy is the inability to ask the question "Am I crazy?".
- Catherine: Even if the answer is yes?
- Robert: Crazy people don't ask, you see?
- Catherine: Huh.
[edit] External links
- Proof at the Internet Movie Database
- Proof at Rotten Tomatoes
