Themes: Living With Disability, Servants and Employers, Love Triangles
Main Cast: Hugo Weaving, Genevieve Picot, Russell Crowe, Heather Mitchell, Jeff Walker
Release Year: 1991
Country: AU
Run Time: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Jocelyn Moorhouse's feature-film debut is a jet-black comedy starring Hugo Weaving as Martin, a paranoid blind man, made so because he is convinced that his mother, when he was a child, lied to him about the sights she described to him. As an adult, Martin is reclusive and ill-tempered. Perversely, Martin is also a photographer -- he takes the pictures, has them developed, asks friends to describe the pictures to him, and then labels them in Braille to make sure no one is tricking him. His housekeeper, Celia (Genevieve Picot), is also a photographer. Obsessed with Martin, she papers the walls of her home with pictures of him. But this obsession doesn't carry through to their relationship, which is a far from cordial one -- Celia torments Martin and Martin humiliates her. One day at a restaurant, after a nasty confrontation with a waitress who ignores him, Martin makes friends with the dishwasher, Andy (Russell Crowe). Martin invites him home to describe his photographs to him. Back at Martin's home, Andy meets Celia and he immediately falls in love with her. Jealous of Andy, Celia seduces him in an effort to discredit Andy with Martin and drive Martin into her arms. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
Australian director/screenwriter Jocelyn Moorhouse made her feature-film debut with this brooding, sardonic, sometimes hilarious story of friendship, betrayal, love, and deception. It revolves around a blind hermit of a photographer (Hugo Weaving) who takes pictures as "proof" of reality. He is involved in a love-torment relationship with his housekeeper (Genevieve Picot). Their life changes when he makes friends with a dishwasher (Russell Crowe). It's a love triangle with a few extra twists of spice and spite. Proof is one of those films whose enjoyment is a matter of taste, as it's balanced between mockery and insight. Moorhouse came to Hollywood on the strength of this debut and directed the blander How to Make an American Quilt. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Proof is a 1991 Australian film by Jocelyn Moorhouse starring Hugo Weaving, Geneviève Picot and Russell Crowe. It was chosen as "Best Film" at the 1991 Australian Film Institute Awards, along with 5 other awards, including Moorhouse for "Best Director", Weaving for "Best Leading Actor", and Crowe for "Best Supporting Actor".
Plot
The story concerns the tribulations of Martin (Weaving), a blind photographer. Through a series of flashbacks, Martin is shown as a child, distrustful of his own mother, as she describes to him the garden outside his bedroom window. She tells him that someone is raking leaves, but he can't hear the sound and angrily decides she is lying to him.
This childhood experience strongly affects Martin as an adult, as he anticipates that sighted people will take advantage of his blindness to lie to him, or worse yet, pity him. He has become a resentful, vaguely bitter person who spends his days taking photographs of the world around him, then having various people describe them. He uses these photographs and the Braille descriptions he stamps on them as "proof" that the world around him really is as others describe it to him. He also takes secret pleasure in rebuking the romantic advances of Celia (Picot), his housekeeper. Celia harbors a deep-seated and possibly obsessive crush on Martin, as evidenced by the scores of photographs of him adorning the walls of her flat, and takes out her frustration at her unrequited love by tormenting Martin in small ways, such as rearranging the furniture in his house. Martin keeps Celia around because her love and hatred of him means he knows she can't pity him.
One day, Martin encounters Andy (Crowe), and is pleased with the depth and detail with which Andy describes his photos. The two become fast friends, and Martin soon comes to trust him implicitly. The jealous Celia is threatened by Andy's increasing presence in Martin's life. She seduces Andy, and when Martin catches the two in the act, Andy reluctantly lies to him about it. Celia recognizes this opportunity to foil Martin yet again, and sets up a series of events leading Martin to discover Andy's dishonesty. Martin, devastated, is plunged into a deep despair, and breaks off his friendship with Andy. Andy later confronts him, and tries to convince him that everyone has flaws, and shouldn't be judged on such simple terms. "People lie," he tells Martin, "but not all the time. And that's the point." Martin doesn't respond, but is swayed by Andy's impassioned words. Near the story's conclusion, Martin decides to fire Celia, but acknowledges his own role in purposely antagonizing her in their love-hate relationship. Despite his openness she is angry that her efforts have gone to waste, and when asked to return her key to Martin's house, she throws it in the sink.
Finally, Martin asks Andy to describe one last photo for him, one he has kept locked away for years. Andy does so, knowing nothing of its significance. It is a photo of the garden from Martin's childhood, taken moments after his mother described it on that fateful day. Andy's detailed description includes the iconic man raking leaves Martin's mother had told him about, that he had rejected for all these years. This revelation provides Martin with his proof, and a much-needed emotional release.
