Proof (Gwyneth Paltrow)

(Amazon UK link)

It’s over eleven years since we saw the 2005 film ‘Proof’, and we’d entirely forgotten the characters and the storyline. I knew vaguely that it was to do with some mathematical proof… but we’ve watched other films which included brilliant mathematical minds, and nothing seemed to stand out from this one.

We were captivated from the start. Gwyneth Paltrow is wonderful as a young woman in her twenties, Catherine, who is the daughter of Robert, a mathematical genius (Anthony Hopkins). At least, he was once a genius, but in his late twenties his mind started to go. It’s not clear exactly what the problem was - it’s described as ‘crazy’ in the film; the balance of his mind was very disturbed, anyway. 

But it’s quickly clear that Robert has just died, and that Catherine is herself quite disturbed. She is also a brilliant mathematician and is worried that her mind is going to start going, too. She imagines her dead father talking to her; it’s easy to think she might be going a bit crazy too, though she could be hallucinating due to exhaustion and stress.