Picture 74: A Beautiful Mind (2001)

We come to 2001 but it’s not a Space Odyssey waiting for us – instead it’s Ron Howard’s mathematical drama. This was a fantastic year in film. Mulholland Drive, Amelie, Donnie Darko and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring all made it to the silver screen but they were unable to come away with the Best Picture prize. The stage is surely set for something spectacular?

In place of Middle Earth, we arrive at the University of Princeton where we meet the genius mathematician John Nash (Russell Crowe). Crowe is the first actor to appear in consecutive Best Pictures since Ian Charleson and John Gielgud both featured in Chariots of Fire (1981) and Gandhi (1982). Mr Nash has a generational mathematical brain and joins a group of like-minded, blazer-clad individuals as a postgraduate student at Princeton in 1947. Maths is cool again and enjoying the wave of popularity following Bletchley Park and the Enigma codebreaker – “mathematicians won the war”. Nash is oozing numbers and formulae, so much so he starts writing letters on the window of his residence – much to the amusement of his more relaxed, arty room mate Charles (Paul Bettany) who is studying English Literature.

Nash is full of ideas and applies his mathematical game theory to Fresher’s Week – a strategy which brings mixed results. After completing his programme and working at MIT, it's not long before John is recruited by the Pentagon in the early 1950s as the Cold War heats up. He has an important, highly classified role in the government. But all may not be as it seems. Is his reality genuine or has the most amazing of minds generated a false world? A false world which has the power to betray him in the real one.

Russell Crowe delivers another top performance whilst Ed Harris and Christopher Plummer support well in this intriguing, psychological romantic thriller. Jennifer Connelly dazzles as the emotional centrepiece of the film – well deserving of her Best Supporting Actress Oscar. James Horner’s soundtrack helps the emotional heart of the film beat stronger still.

This picture uses the truth we consider most unequivocal, mathematical, as the centrepiece of a story where perception itself is brought into question. This juxtaposition generates a fascinating dynamic and an entertaining experience. Can a mind that spends its time using logic recognise when it is deceiving itself?

A Beautiful Mind scores 9/10 and lands in 24^th – a highly respectable performance for a film about Math but one just can’t help but wonder where one of its contemporaries could have landed.

Rating 9/10

Oscar Best Picture Rankings:

1. The Godfather (1972)

2. Schindler’s List (1993)

3. Gladiator (2000)

4. Casablanca (1943)

5. The Apartment (1960)

6. Rebecca (1940)

7. The Godfather: Part II (1974)

8. The Sound of Music (1965)

9. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

10. Ordinary People (1980)

11. A Man for All Seasons (1966)

12. Gandhi (1982)

13. The Deer Hunter (1978)

14. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

15. The English Patient (1996)

16. American Beauty (1999)

17. Titanic (1997)

18. Ben-Hur (1959)

19. The Last Emperor (1987)

20. Unforgiven (1992)

21. Lost Weekend (1945)

22. Platoon (1986)

23. Gone With the Wind (1939)

24. A Beautfiul Mind (2001)

25. Rocky (1976)

26. Annie Hall (1977)

27. Amadeus (1984)

28. All About Eve (1950)

29. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

30. Hamlet (1948)

31. How Green Was My Valley (1941)

32. Braveheart (1995)

33. Out of Africa (1985)

34. West Side Story (1961)

35. Mrs. Miniver (1942)

36. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

37. Wings (1928)

38. Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

39. You can’t take it with you (1938)

40. Patton (1970)

41. Terms of Endearment (1983)

42. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

43. On the Waterfront (1954)

44. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

45. Midnight Cowboy (1969)

46. Driving Miss Daisy (1989)

47. Rain Man (1988)

48. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)

49. Forrest Gump (1994)

50. Dances with Wolves (1990)

51. Marty (1955)

52. Oliver! (1968)

53. Cimarron (1931)

54. Grand Hotel (1932)

55. The French Connection (1971)

56. An American in Paris (1951)

57. Shakespeare in Love (1998)

58. From Here to Eternity (1953)

59. It Happened One Night (1934)

60. My Fair Lady (1964)

61. Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

62. Cavalcade (1933)

63. The Sting (1973)

64. The Life of Emile Zola (1937)

65. Going My Way (1944)

66. The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

67. Chariots of Fire (1981)

68. All the King’s Men (1949)

69. In the Heat of the Night (1967)

70. Gigi (1958)

71. Around the World in 80 Days (1956)

72. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

73. The Broadway Melody (1929)

74. Tom Jones (1963)

Previous or current ranking leaders are in bold.

With credit and thanks to the patrons of the Best Picture Film Club:

Dr Sophie Bloomfield – Fashion Correspondent

Dr Caspar Briault – Head of Cynicism

Dr Conrad Charlton

Dr Sophie Clarke

Dr Kate Diomede

Dr Fionnuala Durrant

Dr Josh Fisher

Dr Joseph Gallaher – CEO and Founder

Dr Joseph Hamilton

Dr Adam Holland – Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Dr Sid Mohan - Divisional Lead for the 1980s

Dr Hannah Morrison

Dr Meera Radia