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Film review

'Proof' stumbles off the stage

Although fine acting by Gwyneth Paltrow and Hope Davis lifts the film, it struggles to overcome the limits of its stage play origins.

By STEVE PERSALL
Published October 6, 2005

[Miramax Films]

Oscar winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins star in Proof, a movie based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Auburn.

LET’S CHAT Check out Times film critic Steve Persall’s blog.

There's always a feeling watching Proof that it's good for us, like a chicken soup remedy for what ails moviegoers after a dumber summer than usual. There's also an emotional difference between Mom's recipe and canned soup. Proof is canned soup.

Director John Madden has all the ingredients for an awards contender: Oscar winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, a stage play with Tony and Pulitzer prize credentials, and sophisticated themes of intelligentsia and family tension. It's a project so confidently classy that complaining about anything may be considered boorish.

But Proof does have problems, chiefly that it never transcends its legitimate stage origins. Filmmakers always talk about "opening up" plays for the screen, adding excuses for exterior settings impossible to stage. Proof seems more enclosed than many plays adapted to film, with its entirely internalized drama in a small house. Madden doesn't try opening up much, but when he does it's distracting and futile.

Therefore, the best way to approach Proof is with a playgoer's mind-set, ready for static visuals, front-row closeups, lengthy passages of dialogue and mandatory attention spans. In short, everything modern movies typically aren't. It can be thrilling or uninteresting or, in the case of Madden's film, a bit of both.

Paltrow returns to the screen after maternity leave as Catherine, the devoted daughter of a mathematician named Robert (Hopkins), whose brilliance deteriorated to madness. Even after his death, Robert still appears to Catherine, challenging her in matters of math and life (the two are braided together for these people), so perhaps she's also going mad. That's the opinion of her impatient sister Claire (Hope Davis), and a concern for Robert's former student Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is attracted to Catherine. Even the character relations in Proof have an equation rhythm to them.

What everyone seeks in David Auburn's play (and co-written adapted script) is centered on one of Robert's many notebooks documenting his mathematical musings. One of those mental riffs late in his life may be a mathematical breakthrough. I wish Madden (or maybe it's Auburn's fault in the first place) would explain a little about the formula's importance, which would bring viewers into the fold, as A Brilliant Mind and Little Man Tate did with other geniuses. Otherwise, it's merely a MacGuffin, significant only to the characters, and distancing us from them since they're obviously much smarter.

Proof does provide a wonderful showcase for Paltrow, who has seldom appeared so vulnerable and emotionally unstable. Catherine's problems are heavier baggage than Paltrow typically carries. It's odd to think of an Oscar-winning actor so young who's still stretching, but that's what Paltrow does here, resulting in one of the better performances of the year.

For my money, however, the best work in Proof is done by Davis in a tricky role. Claire could simply be a villain, always in the way of Catherine's happiness. But Davis imbues each confrontation with some degree of genuine empathy, pity or fear for Catherine's welfare. She does love her sister, but she doesn't understand how to show it besides attempting to control. The women in Proof fare much better than Hopkins (too one-dimensionally misty) and Gyllenhaal (too hunky).

Proof eventually reconciles everything, but not in the way or completeness that moviegoers expect. The final 15 minutes are so genuinely moving that the film's earlier faults don't seem as important. Overall, not a bad way to start the awards season.

Grade: B

Director: John Madden

Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis, Jake Gyllenhaal

Screenplay: David Auburn, Rebecca Miller, based on Auburn's stage play

Rating: PG-13; profanity, brief sexuality and drug content

Running time: 99 min.

[Last modified October 5, 2005, 10:24:08]