Proof Review

Proof
The life of a blind photographer who is looked after by a housekeeper is disrupted by the arrival of an agreeable restaurant worker.

by Matt Mueller |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1991

Running Time:

86 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Proof

The concept of a blind photographer would likely perk varying degrees of curiosity among most people as to the whys and wherefores, and indeed the hows? When Australian Jocelyn Moorhouse heard about one, she was sufficiently fascinated to fashion her writer-directorial debut around just such an intriguing premise.

Veering rather wildly from psycho-drama to character study and all places in between, Proof centres on blind-from-birth thirtysomething Martin (The Matrix and Lord of the Rings' Hugo Weaving), snapping photos since he was six and submerged in bitterness after a cloistered childhood with a long-dead mother whom he was convinced lied to him to punish him for his blindness.

Martin trusts nobody, least of all his slightly twisted housekeeper Celia (Picot), a nasty and vengeful piece of work he treats like guano and who, in turn, leaves household objects in his path, all the while secretly obsessing for his affections.

Enter Andy (Crowe), an amiable but naive young kitchen-hand whom a newly trusting Martin immediately enlists to verbally illustrate his photographs, proof that the world he can only imagine is indeed the same that sighted people perceive. The stirrings of passion are afoot, however, and Andy is easily ensnared into a web of deceit by the jealous and possessive Celia

Consciously alternating our sympathies with the ebb and flow of the relationships, Moorhouse here skilfully fleshes out three complex characters, not always on this side of appealing. Her originality, visual inventiveness and thought-provoking examination of the deceptive nature of truth are all welcome additions to the Australian cinema, but ultimately she is just too sparing on the dramatic punch and emotional impact, leaving Proof just too thin a movie for its own good but with Weaving and Cr
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