Compelling

"Proof" is one of those rare movies that truly makes you care about the main character, truly makes you want that character to come out on top by the end. Specifically, the character is Catherine, brilliantly brought to life by Paltrow, in what I feel is her best performance to date.

The story is simple, basically, and there are few major characters, which subtly adds to the intense, compelling nature of the overall effect. I particularly appreciated how it's never once mentioned that the reason Catherine's obviously-brilliant theory in her notebook is discredited at first is because she's female, and everyones "KNOWS" that all math geniuses are men. Even Catherine herself doubts her genius; in fact, she is far more in touch with the possibility that she's inherited her father's mental instability, a classic example of how women in particular are much easily able to accept 'negative' concepts about themselves than the positive. As I said, none of these sexist implications are ever overtly mentioned, which makes the situation, and the playing out of it, all the more compelling.