A Beautiful Mind plays in a very different way, once you know the plot twist. When I first saw this film in its original run, I wasn’t familiar with John Nash or his story. I only knew he was a Nobel Prize–winning mathematician, and I’d heard the movie was a good “psychological thriller,” but that was it.
What struck me right away was the incredible versatility of Russell Crowe. After taking home a Best Actor Oscar for the previous year’s Best Picture–winner Gladiator, I couldn’t believe I was looking at the same man. His appearance, mannerisms, posture, walk, and voice seemed lightyears away from the sword-wielding Spaniard in Rome’s iconic Coliseum. Crowe had disappeared into the character of this socially inept, awkward, eccentric outcast with a genius-level knack for calculations and figures.
The story begins in 1947, with Nash arriving at Princeton University as the co-recipient of a Carnegie Scholarship under the tutelage of Professor Helinger (Judd Hirsch). Nash shares this honor with rival Martin Hansen (Josh Lucas) but is hell-bent on publishing an original idea. He interacts poorly with his colleagues (Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, and Jason Gray-Standard) but manages to connect on at least a basic level with his churlish roommate Charles (Paul Bettany), who is a literature student. After much frustration and endless hours of hard work, Nash’s published theory of governing dynamics earns him a position at MIT.
In 1953, Nash is invited to the Pentagon to help decipher an encrypted code, which he does on sight. Soon after, he is recruited for a special project by William Parcher (Ed Harris) from the U.S. Department of Defense. Nash’s top-secret assignment is to stave off a Soviet plot by finding hidden patterns in newspapers and magazines. He delivers regular, sealed reports to a mailbox outside a mysterious, gated mansion.
During this time, Nash is invited to dinner by one of his students at MIT—the bright, confident, and beautiful Alicia (Oscar-winner Jennifer Connelly). The two soon fall in love, and at the urging of his old roommate Charles, along with Charles’s young, precocious niece Marcee (Vivien Cardone), Nash proposes. He and Alicia are married and ready to settle down, but in a private moment Parcher corners Nash and blackmails him into continuing with the highly classified and dangerous assignment.
There are a lot of thrills here, and the story continues down a dark path until the big twist happens. Now come the spoilers! So, if you haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t know much about Nash’s life (it’s inspired by a true story), I encourage you to stop reading and watch it. I will never forget that first viewing when I had no idea what was going on. I gasped out loud and so did the audience with me. You would be denying yourself that powerful, initial moment of revelation.
While giving a speech at Harvard, Nash spots several men in dark suits entering the back of the lecture hall and moving down the aisles. Clearly their mission is to capture or kill him. Nash exits the stage and tries to escape, fleeing the building, when he runs right into Dr. Rosen (Christopher Plummer), who introduces himself as a psychiatrist. Nash is forcibly sedated in front of the gathering crowd and committed to a mental institution. While observing him in the ward, Dr. Rosen tells his wife Alicia that Nash is a paranoid schizophrenic suffering from aural and visual hallucinations. It turns out that William Parcher is not real, there is no classified assignment, and no men in black are pursuing him. What’s even worse, Nash lived alone when he was at Princeton University. He has no former roommate named Charles, and Charles’s niece Marcee doesn’t exist, either.
As hard as this is for Alicia to comprehend, Nash flat-out refuses to believe it—not until the brilliant and rational side of his mind takes over. Eventually, after much heartache and unimaginable stress suffered by Nash and Alicia, he is able to prove the theory. Marcee, you see, never ages. Despite the passage of time, she is the same little girl he met, well over a decade ago.
Revisiting A Beautiful Mind is a different experience altogether. It’s far less of a thrill but, as a result, more emotional—quite sad, actually. When you know from the beginning that Charles and Marcee exist only in Nash’s imagination, you see it plain as day. Charles never interacts with any students other than Nash. In one scene, Marcee is running around an open green, waving her arms and shouting in the distance among a flock of pigeons, yet none of the birds move or react to her. It’s understandable why Parcher is kept under wraps. This is a secret mission, after all, so having him isolated with Nash works well in the narrative. What I end up seeing is a unique protagonist, blessed with a rare gift—a genius mathematician. That same gift, his beautiful mind, also cripples him with a debilitating and frightening mental illness.
The telling of the tale really sets this film apart. Aside from the inventive screenplay by Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard’s expert direction is right on target. Both deserved their Oscars. The cast is outstanding throughout, and I could easily see Crowe picking up a second trophy for this—but back-to-back wins are so rare for actors. Jennifer Connelly is truly wonderful. Her Alicia stands by her husband during an extraordinary battle, and the moment when she melts down in front of the bathroom mirror and lets her feelings out with a primal scream is both chilling and heartbreaking. It’s a well-earned Oscar win.
Despite heavy competition that pushes boundaries in other ways, I’m glad this movie took the Academy’s top prize. While “the big twist” makes for an initial audience experience that can’t be repeated, there is still much to glean from subsequent viewings. In the end, they have no less of an impact.
A Beautiful Mind
Director | Ron Howard |
Primary Cast | Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp, Jason Gray-Stanford, Judd Hirsch, Austin Pendelton, Vivien Cardone |
Familiar Faces | Russell Crowe from Gladiator, Christopher Plummer from The Sound of Music, Judd Hirsch from Ordinary People |
Firsts | None to speak of |
Total Wins | 4 (Picture, Director, Supporting Actress: Jennifer Connelly, Screenplay: Adapted) |
Total Nominations | 8 (Picture, Director, Actor: Russell Crowe, Supporting Actress: Jennifer Connelly, Screenplay: Adapted, Editing, Makeup, Score) |
Viewing Format | Blu-ray Disc |