- Published: September 26, 2022
- Updated: September 26, 2022
- Level: College Admission
- Language: English
- Downloads: 7
of the of the Concerned 19 May Proof by John Madden Proof is a movie based on a play by David Auburn that received the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. Proof deals with the story of a girl Catherine (Gwyneth Paltrow) trying to come to terms with the death of her father Robert(Anthony Hopkins), who had once been a brilliant mathematician, but later on succumbs to insanity. While doing so, the daughter comes across her own long repressed anxieties and fears. Under such circumstances she seeks solace in one of her father’s ex student Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is searching through her father’s papers and notebooks to find something brilliant and new. The situation is further complicated by Catherine’s successful and bossy sister Claire (Hope Davis). As Gwyneth Paltrow who played Catherine in the stage version of this play, so her portrayal of Catherine with her volatile moods and her struggle to gain confidence in her talent is very convincing and realistic. The film is more of a heavy drama that requires a rapt attention and concentration on the part of the audience. Madden’s approach towards costume and set is not that deft. He fails to exploit the scattered settings at Robert’s home, with bits of paper spread around, and unattended dirty dishes, to throw light on the scattered and disturbed lives of the characters in the story. Still, there are many meaningful scenes in the story that bring out the darkly comical mindset of the characters. Overall Proof failed to achieve that depth and meaning on the screen, that it successfully approached in its stage version.