Proof is an exquisite film about a woman who struggles to come to terms with the death of her father - a brilliant mathematician - and her own extraordinary talents. It joins the likes of Amadeus and A Beautiful Mind as an outstanding movie about a mad genius. Director John Madden teams up with Gwyneth Paltrow in their first collaboration since 1998's Shakespeare in Love. This time, they take on a deeper and darker subject: the troubled mind of a genius. Paltrow, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Shakespeare's girlfriend, triumphs again in Proof with the best performance of her career. She plays a talented and attractive - but lonely - woman named Catherine who drops out of college to take care of her father Robert (Anthony Hopkins), a top-notch mathematician whose mental illness has rendered him a pitiful old man who can neither work nor take care of himself. Hal (Jake Gyllenhaal), a student of Robert, strikes up a romantic relationship with Catherine. But after a brief respite from solitude and misery, Catherine sinks back into an emotional abyss, as nobody believes that she has written a groundbreaking proof that is found in one of his father's notebooks. Has Catherine gone mad during her struggle to emulate her father's success, or is she a genius? While all evidence hints at the latter, Madden and Auburn - who co-wrote the script with Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur Miller) - suggest in the ending that the answer isn't important. What Catherine cares about is not the authorship of the proof, but whether Hal believes in her. And among the many important things that can neither be proved nor disproved is love. The film may lack the usual flashy ingredients of a box office smash. But patient moviegoers will find delight and inspiration in its many humorous and intelligent moments. VERDICT: GO TO THE MOVIES