this time, smith is blind

Tonight, I watched the film Proof, with Hugo Weaving as Martin, an emotionally-vacant blind photographer; Geneviève Pico as his twisted housekeeper Celia; and a too-young-to-lob-phones Russell Crowe as Andy, a friend of Martin’s who describes his photographs to him with varying degrees of honesty.

Celia is obsessively in “love” with Martin, of which Martin is aware but refuses to acknowledge. Perhaps driven by Martin to make his existence more painful in an attempt to milk ANY sort of emotion from him, she re-arranges his furniture and holds back his dog when Martin calls for him at the park. A love triangle of sorts materializes between the three main characters — Martin adores Andy, horny-horny Andy wants into the pants of Celia, and Celia wants to carve her name into Martin’s chest. Hey, I said “of sorts.”

Honesty — trust, really, and its place in relationships — is what the film is ultimately about. In the end, the most important scene of the film shows us how a lack of trust can turn someone into an emotional cripple. How without understanding how to reconcile the ethical imperfections of people, one can become a shell of a person, incapable of healthy human interactions. Only after we have proof of our wrongs will the most stubborn and untrusting of us have a chance to redeem ourselves — hopefully, before too late.

Trust is a difficult thing to give openly, particularly if you have been stung in the past. It is the single most important thing that someone can earn of you, more so than love. Love can be volatile — as in the case of Celia, whose love has twisted her into a sadistic bitch — but someone in which you can place complete trust is beyond our concept of worth. Martin’s innate distrust, not the imperfections of Celia and Andy, is the cause of his troubles. Perhaps had he been exposed to the proof at a younger age that his limited senses required, he would have learned the value of trust and thus of love without trudging through so much misery.

I rate Proof 4 out of 5 deranged housekeepers.