A Beautiful Mind

UK Release: 22nd February 2002

Watched on (Recorded) TV: Monday 3rd October 2011

Rating: 12

Genre: Biography, Drama

Runtime: 2hrs 15mins

Tagline: It is only in the mysterious equation of love that any logical reasons can be found.

IMDb Plot Summary: Biopic of the famed mathematician John Nash and his lifelong struggles with his mental health. Nash enrolled as a graduate student at Princeton in 1948 and almost immediately stood out as an odd duck. He devoted himself to finding something unique, a mathematical theorem that would be completely original. He kept to himself for the most part and while he went out for drinks with other students, he spends a lot of time with his roommate, Charles, who eventually becomes his best friend. John is soon a professor at MIT where he meets and eventually married a graduate student, Alicia. Over time however John begins to lose his grip on reality, eventually being institutionalized diagnosed with schizophrenia. As the depths of his imaginary world are revealed, Nash withdraws from society and it's not until the 1970s that he makes his first foray back into the world of academics, gradually returning to research and teaching. In 1994, John Nash was awarded the Nobel prize in Economics.

A Quick Review: A Beautiful Mind covers a greater scope than I could have imagined, even an hour in. It spirals and spirals into one brilliant film that not only makes you question John’s reality and sanity, but yours too, as what is built up over the film is gradually torn to pieces and examined until nothing is certain. I hadn’t seen much of Russell Crowe’s work before and I was blown away by is subtle performance - he is just fantastic. You are completely drawn in to his mind and go on his journey with him.

Someone else I must mention is Jennifer Connelly who plays John’s wife. She is so strong and vulnerable, and you never quite know whether what she’s doing is for the best, but you are on her side - she’s a great character. So good in fact that Connelly won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The relationship between her and Nash is wonderfully portrayed; uncomfortable and hard as John is so socially awkward. And as the film is shot so that the tension and fragile atmosphere slowly increases until the climax, it leaves you more than a little emotional. 

It also does tend to get a little weird as we delve deeper into his fragile mind, but overall it is a pretty solid, moving film. 

Score: 8/10