- Hey, guys, - Where you headed?
- I'm late for Bhandari, - You know what he's like, Better get there,
Catch you later,
(man) Yeah,
Ah, Catherine,
- So nice of you to drop by, - Sorry I'm late,
- This work of yours... - I know, I'm sorry,
- I mean, it's interesting, - You think so?
In that it has nothing to do with the problems I'd asked you to solve,
- It won't happen again, - What happened?
You simply couldn't control yourself?
No, I just... I thought I should get all those ideas down while they were in my head,
and then it was morning, and I couldn't come in with nothing,
But this is the third time that inspiration's overtaken you
just at the moment when you had to submit to my idea
of what it is you should be learning,
- A third? Really, - Differential equations don't interest you,
No, they do, I mean... Yeah, they absolutely do,
Oh, but they didn't last night,
Not as much as usual,
I mean...
I'm worried that your work is deteriorating,
There are some good ideas here, but... it isn't a coherent mathematical argument,
- Well, I didn't get time to finish it, - But mathematics isn't jazz,
Even the craziest mathematics is working towards a proof,
Not all the mathematicians in my family are crazy,
- I wasn't using the word in a clinical way, - I know, I know, Just for the record,
How is your father?
I don't know, I haven't been able to get in touch with him for a week,
He's fine,
Last time I talked to him, he was fine, He's been fine for months now, Nine months,
He was a great man,
He still is,
You're gonna fail me, aren't you?
I'm giving you another chance to redo the problem set,
You need an A, You're quite capable of earning one,
Thank you,
- Professor Bhandari? - Yeah,
Don't worry about me, OK?
I'm gonna write you a really nice fat set of answers that you're really gonna like,
(line ringing)
(Catherine) Hi. We're not here. Please leave a message.
Claire? Hi, Listen, When was the last time you spoke to Dad?
Tuesday? Oh, God,
It's fine, It's just that I normally talk to him every day,
and I haven't been able to get ahold of him,
Well, I'm glad that you're sure everything's fine,
I feel much more comfortable, Thank you,
What could have happened? I mean, he could've had a car accident,
He could've fallen and broken his hip,
He could be running naked down the Midway for all I know,
Yes, Claire, I know that you care about Dad,
Yeah, as much as me, OK, Now can I please get off the phone?
Dad?
Hello!
Dad?
Dad!
Dad?
Catherine, hi, What a surprise,
- What are you doing out here? - I'm thinking,
Writing,
It's 30 degrees, It's the middle of the night,
- I know, - Well, aren't you cold?
Of course I am, I'm freezing my ass off. (laughs)
So what are you doing out here?
It's too hot in the house, The radiators clank and I couldn't concentrate,
I've been calling and calling, Did you not get my messages?
It's a distraction,
I didn't know what was going on, I had to drive all the way out here,
I can see that,
- Why don't you answer the phone? - I'm sorry, Catherine,
But it's a question of priorities, and work takes priority, You know that,
- You're working? - (Robert laughs)
Goddamn it!
I'm working!
I mean, I say "I,"
Machinery,
The machinery's working, Catherine,
It's on full blast, All the cylinders are firing,
I'm on fire,
That's why I came out here to cool off, I haven't felt like this for years,
- You're kidding, - No,
- I don't believe it, - I don't believe it either, but it's true,
It started about a week ago, I woke up,
I came downstairs, made a cup of coffee,
Before I could pour the milk in, it was like someone turned the light on in my head,
- Really? - Not the light, The whole grid, I lit up!
It's like no time has passed since I was 21,
- You're kidding me, - No, I'm back,
I'm back, In touch with the source! The font,
Whatever the source of my creativity was all those years ago, I'm in contact with it,
I'm sitting on it, It's a geyser, and I'm shooting up in the air on top of it,
God,
I'm not talking about divine inspiration, It's not funneling into my head, onto the page,
I'm not saying it won't be a lot of work, It will be, a tremendous amount of work,
It's not gonna be easy, But the raw material is there,
I see places for the work to go, new techniques,
I'm gonna get whole branches of the profession talking to each other,
I'm sorry,
I'm being rude,
(chuckles)
- How's school? - School's fine,
- You're working hard? - Sure,
- Faculty treating you all right? - Yes,
- Made any friends? - Yes,
- You dating? - Dad,
No details necessary if you don't want to provide them,
School is fine, OK? I want to talk about what you're doing,
Great, Let's talk,
- This work... - Yes,
- It's here? - Part of it, yes,
- Can I see it? - It's all at a very early stage,
- I don't care, - It's not complete,
To be honest, it's all in progress, I think we're talking years,
Dad, it's OK, Just let me see anything,
- You really want to? - Yes,
- You're genuinely interested? - Dad, of course,
Of course, It is your field,
Yes,
You know how happy that makes me?
Yes,
I think there's enough here to keep me working the rest of my life, And not just me,
I was starting to imagine I was finished, Catherine, Really finished,
I was terrified I'd never work again, Did you know that?
- I wondered, - I was absolutely bloody terrified,
Then I remembered something, I remembered you,
Your creative years were just beginning, You'd get your degree, do your own work,
If you hadn't gone into math, that would've been all right,
Now, Claire's done well for herself, I'm satisfied with her,
I'm proud of you! (laughs)
I know you've got your own work, and I don't want you to neglect that,
You mustn't neglect it, But I could probably use some help,
To be honest, I'd like you to help me, to work with me, if you want to,
If you can work it out with your class schedule, I could help you with that,
Make some calls, talk to your teachers,
I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself,
Oh, Jesus, look, enough bullshit,
You asked to see something, Let's start with this,
I have roughed something out, It's a general outline for a proof,
It's a major result, It's important,
It's not finished, but, uh... you can see where it's going,
Uh...
Here,
It's very rough,
- Was there any other work in here? - No, That's the only...
Can I see it?
I'm sorry, I just...
So you wrote this incredible thing, but you didn't tell anyone?
I'm telling you both now,
Catherine, I'm sorry, but I just find this very hard to believe,
- Claire... - This is Dad's handwriting,
It's not,
- It looks exactly like it, - That is my writing,
I'm sorry,
Well, ask Hal, He's been looking at Dad's writing all week,
- Well, I don't know, - (Catherine) Hal, come on,
- I'm not a handwriting expert, - Well, whose writing does it look like?
It looks... I don't know what Catherine's handwriting looks like,
It looks like that,
OK,
You know what I think? I think it's early,
and everybody's tired and not in the best state to make emotional decisions,
- So let's just all take a breath, - You don't believe me,
Well, I really don't know anything about this,
Never mind,
I don't know why I expected you to believe me about anything,
Could you tell us the proof? And then that would show that it was yours,
You wouldn't understand it,
Well, tell it to Hal,
I mean, I could, We could sit down and talk it through, It might take a while,
- You can't use the book, - For God's sake, it's 40 pages long,
I didn't memorize it, It's not a muffin recipe,
Oh, Jesus, this is stupid,
- Hal, tell her, - Tell her what?
- Whose book is that? - I don't know,
What is the matter with you?
You've been... You've been going through this other stuff,
You know there's nothing even remotely like that up here,
- Catherine... - OK, OK,
OK, we'll sit down and I'll talk you through the proof,
OK? OK?
If Claire will please let me have my book back,
All right, OK, talk him through it,
- It still wouldn't prove that she wrote it, - Why not?
Your dad may have written it and explained it to you later,
I'm not saying he did, I'm saying there's no proof that...
Of course there isn't, But come on! He didn't write it, He couldn't have,
Even in the year he was well, he couldn't work,
You know that, You're supposed to be a scientist,
Here's my suggestion, I know three or four guys at the department,
sharp, disinterested people, who knew your dad's work,
- I'll take this to them, - What?
I'll tell them that we found something potentially major,
We're not sure of the authorship, I'll sit with them,
We'll talk through it, and we'll figure out what we've got,
It might take a couple days, but then we'd have a lot more information,
I think that's an excellent suggestion,
- You can't, - Catherine,
- You can't take it, - I am not taking it,
- This is exactly what you wanted, - Oh, come on, Jesus...
You don't waste any time, do you? It's no hesitation,
You can't wait to show them your brilliant discovery,
- I am trying to determine what this is, - I'm telling you what it is,
- You don't know! - I wrote it!
It is your father's handwriting!
At least, it looks an awful lot like the writing in the other books,
Maybe your writing looks exactly like his, I don't know,
It does look like his,
I mean, it's one of his notebooks, the exact same kind he used,
I told you, He gave it to me,
I didn't show this to anyone,
I wanted you to be the first to see it, I didn't know I wanted that until last night,
- I trusted you, - I know,
- Was I wrong? - No,
I should've known that she wouldn't believe me, but why don't you?
I know how hard it would be to come up with something like this,
You'd have to be your dad at the peak of his powers,
Just because you and the rest of the geeks worshipped him
does not mean he wrote the proof,
He was the best, My generation hasn't produced anything like him,
He revolutionized the field twice before he was 22,
I am sorry, You took some classes at Northwestern for a few months,
- My education wasn't at Northwestern! - Even so, it doesn't matter,
It's too advanced, I don't even understand most of it,
- You think it's too advanced? - Yes,
It's too advanced for you,
You could not have done this work,
- But what if I did? - Well, what if?
It would be a real disaster for you,
Wouldn't it?
You and the other geeks who barely finished your PhD's,
who are marking time doing lame research,
bragging about the conferences they go to,
Wow,
Playing in an awful band and whining that they're intellectually past it at 26,
because they are!
Catherine,
Oh!
When are you going to do some mathematics with me?
I can't think of anything worse, You want some Parmesan?
I'm all alone, I have important things to say, and you're not helping,
- You used to love it, - Not anymore,
You knew prime numbers before you could read,
- Well, now I've forgotten, - Don't be lazy, Catherine!
I haven't been lazy, I've been taking care of you,
You dropped out of school, You sleep till noon,
You eat junk, You don't work, Dishes pile up in the sink,
- Some days you don't even get out of bed, - Those are the good days,
They're fever days and you sweated them away, You'll never know what work you lost
because you were moping, moping in your unmade bad, Always moping,
Up until four in the afternoon sometimes, Catherine,
I have you on my clock, You know I'm right,
You know, I'm told by some very important people, You know I know,
- I've lost a few days, - How many?
- I don't know, - I bet you do, I bet you count,
- Knock it off, - How many days have you lost?
- A month, Around a month, - Exactly,
- Dad, eat your dinner, - How many?
- 33 days, - Be precise, for Christ's sake,
I slept till noon today,
Make it 33 and a quarter days,
Yeah, all right,
- You're kidding, - No,
- Amazing number, - It's a depressing fucking number,
If every day you lost were a year, it would be a very interesting fucking number,
- 33 and a quarter years is not interesting, - Stop it, You know exactly what I mean,
- 1729 weeks, - 1729, Great number,
The smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways,
12 cubed plus 1 cubed equals 1729,
And 10 cubed plus 9 cubed... Yes, we've got it, Thank you,
You see?
Even your depression is mathematical,
Stop moping,
Do some work,
Take a look,
(knocking)
(Claire) Catherine?
Katie, honey?
Catherine,
I figured out how to get a lower bound for L,
Modification of Landau-Siegel,
What if this L had a Siegel zero?
You'd need an effective version,
Shit,
Catherine,
Catherine!
- What? - Aah! Jesus!
God, you scared me, What are you doing there?
Sorry, I just... I wanted to...
It's wonderful news,
I think I've got it,
Catherine!
Katie,
- Katie, what is it? - It's not mine, It's not mine!
- It's not mine, It's his, It's not mine, - What, honey?
- It's not mine, It's not mine, - What, honey? What's the matter?
I stole it from him, I stole it, It's not mine,
- What do you mean, you stole it? - It's not mine,
OK,
- I killed him, I killed him, - No, honey, No,
I never should have written it, I never should have written it,
- OK, You're OK, - I never should have written it,
Is it...? Is it possible, honey, that...?
Is it possible that you just wanted to so badly
and you... you deserved to do something special like this thing, this proof?
Is it possible that you just imagined that you wrote it?
Hmm?
Is it possible that it really was Dad's after all?
Hmm?
Is that possible?
You didn't kill him, sweetheart,
He just died, that's all,
He just died,
(Catherine) Hi. We're not here. Please leave a message.
(beep)
(Hal) Catherine, it's me again. I really need to speak to you,
so please call me back.
Can I take these for you?
Claire!
- I thought you'd left, - I had to delay my flight,
Where's Catherine? I need to talk to her,
- She's inside, - This thing...
checks out,
I've been over it with two sets of guys, old geeks and young geeks,
It's weird,
I don't know where the techniques come from, it is very hard to follow,
but we can't find anything wrong with it,
I mean, there may be something wrong with it, but we can't find it,
I have not slept,
It's real,
Thank you,
See, I had to swear these guys to secrecy,
They were jumping out of their skins,
One email, it's all over,
I threatened them, Yeah, I think we're safe,
They're physical cowards,
- Where's Catherine? - This is not a good time,
You're leaving?
- The flight is at noon, - You're taking her away?
Yes,
- To New York? - Yes,
- You're just gonna drag her away? - She's entirely happy to come,
- I'd like to speak to Catherine, - She doesn't want to see you,
Does she have any say in whether she goes?
She's been completely out of it, Hal,
Five days she wasn't speaking,
Do you want your coat, sweetie? It's cold,
I'll get your things, The movers will get anything we've forgotten,
Are you all right?
It works,
I thought you might wanna know,
- I had to see you, - I'm leaving,
- Just wait a minute, - What? What do you want?
You have the book, She told me that she gave it to you,
so do whatever you want with it,
Publish, Go for it, Have a press conference,
Tell the world what my father discovered,
I don't think your father wrote it,
- You thought so last week, - That was last week,
I spent this week reading the proof, I think I understand it,
It uses a lot of newer mathematical techniques,
things that were developed in the '80s and '90s,
Noncommutative geometry, random matrices,
I think I learned more mathematics this week than in three years of grad school,
- So? - So the proof is very...
- hip, - Get some sleep, Hal,
- What was your father doing for 20 years? - Are you done?
He wouldn't have been able to master those new techniques,
- He was a genius, - But he was nuts,
- So he read about them later, - Maybe,
The books he would've needed are upstairs in your room, some of them,
He dated everything, Even his most incoherent entries, he dated,
- There are no dates in this, - The handwriting,
Parents and children can have similar handwriting,
especially if they've spent a lot of time together,
Interesting theory,
I like it,
I like it, too,
It's what I told you last week,
I know,
- You blew it, - This is yours, Catherine,
It's too bad, too, 'cause the rest of it was really good,
"I loved your dad," "I always liked you," "I wanna spend every minute with you,"
That's killer stuff,
I meant it,
You got laid and you got the notebook, You're a genius,
Talk to me, Catherine,
- This proof is yours, - Forget it,
You'll have to deal with it eventually, You can't just ignore it,
- You'll have to publish, - Leave me alone, Hal,
- Take it at least, - I don't want it,
- Come on, I am trying to correct things, - You can't!
Do you hear me?
You think you've figured something out?
You run over here all pleased with yourself because you changed your mind?
Now you're certain? Hal, you don't know anything,
The book, the math, the dates, the writing,
all that stuff you just decided with your buddies, it's just evidence,
- It doesn't prove anything, - OK, what would?
Nothing,
You should've trusted me,
I...
I know,
Claire sold the house?
She wants me in New York, She wants to look after me,
What? Do you need looking after? You looked after your father for five years,
- So maybe it's my turn, - There is nothing wrong with you,
We should be on our way, honey,
You can't just walk away,
pretend like it never happened and then get a job at Urban Outfitters or something,
- Just take it, - Katie, honey, let's go,
Stay in Chicago, You're an adult,
I gotta go,
- Please, - No,
- Catherine, this isn't about me, - (Claire) Katie, come on,
Don't you owe this to yourself at least?
Goodbye, Hal,
Catherine!
- Hi, And where are you going today? - To New York City,
Can I see some photo ID, please?
(sighs)
Wow, You sure got a lot done,
Well, I had five extra days,
I need some more coffee, Do you want some?
Am I on that list?
What?
"Square away crazy sister,"
Check,
That's not fair, Katie,
I just wanna take care of you,
(Robert) Catherine!
- What? - Aah! Jesus!
God, you scared me, What are you doing there?
Sorry, I just... I wanted to...
It's wonderful news,
I think I've got it,
What do you think?
- Wow, Dad, - Can you believe it?
I knew you had it in you,
That's a pretty mealy-mouthed response,
What about it? What do you think? Let's talk it through,
Not tonight, I'm tired,
Come on, This is the beginning of our real work together,
You think I've stolen the thunder because I broke through first?
This is only the beginning,
- I think we should call it a night, - Read out the first couple of lines,
We go line by line out loud, see if there's a better way, a shorter way,
No, Come on, Tomorrow,
I've waited years for this, goddamn it,
- Let's do some work together, - Dad, I think we should get some sleep,
- Not until we talk about the proof! - I don't want to talk about it,
Goddammit, open the goddamn book! Read me the lines!
"Let X equal the quantity of all quantities of X,
"Let X equal the cold,
"It is cold in December,
"The months of cold equal November through February,
"There are four months of cold and four of heat,
"leaving four months of indeterminate temperature,
"In February, it snows.
"In March, the lake is a lake of ice.
"In September, the students come back
"and the bookstores are full.
"Let X equal the month of full bookstores.
"The number of books approaches infinity
"as the number of months of cold approaches four.
"I will never be as cold now as I will in the future.
"The future of cold is infinite.
"The future of heat is the future of cold.
"The bookstores are infinite
"and so are never full except in September,"
I'm exhausted,
I can't wait to get back to the coffee at home,
We have a place where we buy coffee, They roast it themselves,
They have an old roaster down in the basement, You can smell it on the street,
Some mornings you can smell it from our place, four stories up, It's wonderful,
"Manhattan's Best," Some magazine wrote it up,
I mean, who knows?
But it's very good,
I think...
I'm actually gonna give up coffee 'cause it's bad for my nerves,
Catherine,
Catherine!
(Catherine) How many days have I lost?
How can I get back to the place where I started?
I'm outside a house, trying to find my way in,
but it is locked and the blinds are down,
and I've lost the key,
and I can't remember what the rooms look like or where I put anything.
And if I dare go in inside, I wonder...
will I ever be able to find my way out?
Sometimes in my head I think it works, and then...
Sometimes I just think it's... crazy,
There's nothing wrong with you,
I think I'm like my dad,
I think you are, too,
I'm afraid I'm like my dad,
- You are not him, - Maybe I will be,
Maybe, and maybe you'll be better,
It was like...
connecting the dots,
Some nights I could connect three or four of them,
and some nights they'd be really far apart,
I'd have no idea how to get to the next one, if there was the next one,
It just seems really stitched together and lumpy,
Dad's stuff was way more elegant,
Talk me through it and tell me what's bothering you,
You got a bit of ground to make up, Dobbs,
You know that?
And there's no way to prove that I wrote it,
No, But we could sit down,
we could talk it through and determine if you couldn't have,
(Catherine) If I go back to the beginning, I could start it over again.
Here,
(Catherine) I could go line by line,
try and find a shorter way.
There are a lot of...
I could try to make it...
better.
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