Proof (1991)

Saw Proof (1991), an Australian drama about a blind man who befriends a busboy. The blind man takes photos of his surroundings and later has the busboy describe them to him. This gives him proof (note: Proof) that what others describe to him is indeed the truth. This habit apparently dates back to his manipulative mother who would describe the garden in their back yard to him, inserting small lies as she does so. Or so he suspects anyway. We viewers are kept in the dark as to whether his suspicions are correct or not. In modern times he has a housekeeper who is clearly unhealthily obsessed with him and who also plays weird information-withholding games with him, silently moving around his furniture or intercepting his photographs.

The mother and the housekeeper both have deeply unhealthy with the protagonist and are the only female characters (apart from a waitress and the sole female in a gang of teenagers who beat him up at one point.) The film comes off as fairly misogynistic although, of course, it may be that only the protagonist is a woman-hater and that some of this is in his head. These relationships are contrasted with the new and so-far pure relationship with the busboy (who, I should add is like 30.) It could be read as a bit gay I suppose, but it would be a sub-sub-textual reading.

No, the film is much more about trust and human relationships and how strained and twisted those become when proof is required for everything. The blind protagonist is isolated, even when surrounded by people who love him (even unto obsession.) He travels through the town he lives in but relies on a very small circle of people to function. If one lie is enough to poison these wells, then his relationships must remain dry and fleeting. This is no sort of life so, in addition to exploring his trust issues, we get a glimpse of a happy ending. Perhaps some day he'll trust himself and others.

Edit: I was really looking forward to this film, believing it to be the film of the same title from 2005 about the daughter of mathematician who is succumbing to dementia. This film was fine, but I was very disappointed!