The factorial
world of mathematics is a universe composed of symbols and complexity. If such
an individual exists with the inhuman gift to understand such complicated
language, their life’s purpose is to manifest it. The unique play turned film Proof
is the story of a young woman accepting her arithmetic genius after the death
of her beloved father. David Auburn wrote the conceptually complex play in 2001
and director John Madden turned it into a Miramax film in 2005. As someone who
read the play prior to watching the film my expectations were high.
I first approved
of Anthony Hopkins playing Robert because the ghost of a delusional
mathematician seemed a natural fit for him. I was originally skeptical of
Gwyneth Paltrow playing the mentally and emotionally tormented Catherine, but
she proved her award winning acting abilities. For Hollywood purposes I guess
it only seemed profitable to have Jake Gyllenhaal play Catherine’s love
interest, Hal or formally Harold Dobbs. But Hope Davis was a relevant fit for
the obsessive compulsive elder daughter Claire.
Simultaneous with
the play and movie, the main setting was Robert and Catherine’s antique and
gloomy looking Chicago home, heavy with unfinished business. The play was meant
for a single stage but thanks to the infinite possibilities that a movie can provide;
the story to took the necessary next step into reality to relate to a general
audience.
Any movie that is
based off of a play there will be changes made for cinematography reasons. One
example that I didn’t mind was Madden made Catherine a year older than and Hal to
either make their relationship seem less creepy or maybe because Gwen looks
older than Jake. Other changes were added to give Claire more of a relatable
character in the film possibly to heighten the lack of sisterly love.
Nevertheless the movie could be followed along with the play, which satisfied
me.
I thoroughly
enjoyed the film’s use of flashbacks. In Auburn’s play the scenes skip to
reflect a flashback or forward in time, which settled my confusion while
watching the movie. The story begins the night before Robert’s funeral,
Catherine is speaking with the ghost of her father and addresses the haunting
question of insanity: “A very good sign that you’re crazy is the inability to ask
the question, ‘Am I crazy?’” (Auburn, 11).
The theme of
madness, I felt was supposed to be omniscient. However in the film Madden added
a funeral scene where it seemed that Cat was seeking revenge rather than
mourning her loss. In the film she rushed up to the podium and gave a morbid
eulogy about the last insufferable years of Robert’s sickly life, ending it
with, “I’m glad he’s dead.” Her speech was rough going down, especially since
her character was supposed to have genuinely loved her father.
But Madden did redeem himself with the funeral’s reception, where
Hal and his band of geeks rocked the house. The movie interpretation of the
three-minute song of silence called “i” that stood for the “imaginary number”
was so emotionally moving that it truly embodied the power behind a moment of
silence in Robert’s memory. I also found it interesting that Claire was
drunkenly giggling throughout the song to reflect her lack of awareness for this
scientific world and her lack of care that her father just died. With the crack
of lighting and simultaneous flash of Robert’s figure before Catherine, was
both reassuring and an intense way to end the scene.
The legendary Anthony
Hopkins gave the true performance by bringing his own mad genius to truly
become Robert. The inspiration for such an acclaimed character is within his
charming love and dedication for both math and his daughter Catherine: “I
(Robert) don’t mean to embarrass you. It’s part of the reason we have children.
We hope they’ll survive us, accomplish what we can’t” (Auburn, 62).
I had preconceived
notions about Gwyneth Paltrow playing Catherine. I was proved to be in the
wrong since she gave the appropriate balance of natural beauty and brains to
Cat’s character. I was similarly skeptical about hunky Jake Gyllenhaal as
Robert’s long time student because he is simply too good looking to become a
math geek. But the scene during the morning after the funeral where Hal
boyishly admits to Cat on the steps of her house, “I’d like to spend as much
time with you as I can unless of course I’m coming on way too strong right now
and scaring you in which case I’ll begin backpedaling immediately…”(Auburn,
35). Jake gave Hal the handsome he needed to make this line not sound creepy.
The ending was the
only true difference between the movie and the play where Madden’s more
dramatic finish was uplifting. In the play Claire and Catherine have not left
yet for the airport but the insinuation that they are going soon is obvious.
However in the film there was an additional scene where Hal chases after their
taxi and in a perfect Frisbee-like toss, sends her notebook into the cab window
and perfectly onto Cat’s lap as they drive away. Because of this, afterward
while Cat and Claire are in the airport discussing New York, Cat has a moment
of realization where she unexpectedly takes off running back to face her fate
and Hal.
From my female
perspective, what truly hit home for me was in the last scene. Hal is casually walking
through his campus with his friends and upon noticing Cat waiting for him; he
stops walking as his friends carry on, with this cheerful look on his beautiful
face. Ugh, how romantic?
The last scene in
the play for the most part coincided with the movie, as it should. Catherine is
initially shy toward Hal until she shows him her notebook that contained, “a
mathematical theorem about prime numbers, something mathematicians have been
trying to prove since…since there were mathematicians, basically. Most people
thought it couldn’t be done” (Auburn, 40). Hal, knowing how deeply important
the work is to the math world and Cat, humbling begins asking questions about
the proof.
The movie added an
additional voice over to conclude the last shot of Hal and Cat. As the shot
paned out Catherine spoke in rhetorical questions of her powerful new
acceptance of her genius, which I found gave rise to her character’s awakening: “I'm
outside a house, trying to find my way in. But it is locked and the blinds are
down, and I've lost the key, and I can't remember what the rooms look like or
where I put anything. And if I dare go in inside, I wonder... will I ever be
able to find my way out?”
Coming from
someone who is genuinely right-brained and has little appreciation for math, I
found this movie and play to be sensational. I appreciated the lack of over
dramatization in the film because this story was not one to become a box office
smash but it was one to be seen. The audience is required to have a certain
level of intelligence to fully appreciate and comprehend such a complex story,
but that is why the film had super stars like Anthony, Gwen and Jake. All in
all I thought the play was successfully created into a film. And credit must be
given where credit is due. Touché Hollywood, touché.
