El teorema de Marguerite

Despite familiar themes, the movie is well-made and avoids being overly dramatic. It is well worth watching and takes more after the movie 21 than 'Good Will Hunting' or 'A Beautiful Mind'. A very solid performance by Ella Rumpf (known from the movie "Raw") who portrays Marguerite. Starts a bit slow but if you bite the bullet and continue watching, you will be rewarded. Some plot twists are predictable (just like in the movie "21"), but others you will not see coming. The movie explores a common problem, talented young people who get discouraged when they realize success isn't guaranteed. Marguerite is a brilliant math student who crumbles when her big theorem turns out to be wrong. While the movie explores familiar territory (genius obsessed with proving themselves), it might not resonate with everyone unless you're really into number theory (a specific branch of mathematics). The film uses camera tricks to show how overwhelmed Marguerite feels and how she struggles to decide between her passion for math and the harsh realities of the world. I also loved the movie and the performances of Julien Frison (Lucas) and Sonia Bonny (Noa). But Ella Rumpf (Marguerite Hoffmann) takes the crown. Perfect casting for this role. Rated the movie 9/10 and well deserved. No need to say that this is a must see (despite the slow start).

I hate mathematics, I have always hated them, but I love this movie which doesn't need to be a good expert in maths to appreciate it. It is a true authentic character study about a young woman who is an expert in maths and whose world suddenly collapses when she realizes that all her theories don't match anymore. This is not a comedy, a stupid comedy which French film industry has the secret, but a true riveting story, that the French has also the secret of...Never boring and you always wonder what the following scene will be. Nothing predictable. What could we ask for? Not a masterpiece but what for after all?

Here is a movie that will interest my mathematician friends. I look forward to them watching it and sharing their impressions. 'Le théorème de Marguerite' (2023) is a variation on the classic formula 'boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back', with a few changes. First of all, the lead character is a woman, a young and brilliant mathematician who will meet a boy, so it's more like 'girl meets boy'. And yes, both the girl and the boy are mathematicians, so 'a mathematician girl meets a mathematician boy'. Otherwise, the formula applies - in cinema and in mathematics. The film by director Anna Novion is a film about the passion for mathematics. There aren't many movies that bring math heroes to the screen, but a few of them are memorable. 'Good Will Hunting' and 'A Beautiful Mind', for example, also offered us heroes whose life and passion are consumed in front of blackboards filled with mathematical equations. 'Le théorème de Marguerite' aims to join this select club.

The heroine of the film is called Marguerite Hoffman. She is a brilliant PhD student at one of the most prestigious colleges in France and mathematics is her whole life. The doctoral thesis supervised by Professor Werner is a demonstration of one of the most famous problems that mathematicians have faced for centuries: the Goldbach conjuncture. (for the curious: 'Any even number is the sum of two prime numbers'). The proposition was verified by numerical computers until they ran out of power, but it was never proved. On the day of the thesis presentation, however, a catastrophe occurs. Julien, another brilliant young mathematician who had joined Wener's team a few days before, points out a fatal flaw in the proof. Marguerite has a total mental breakdown and decides to abandon mathematics and the teacher whom she blames for betraying her by associating with the new student. She will try to work as a saleswoman, she will meet Noa, a dancer with whom she shares a rented apartment and who will try to bring her back to life. Marguerite, however, may leave mathematics, but mathematics does not leave her. The talent will help her become a brilliant mahjong player (a complex Chinese game with stones) and her orderly mathematical mind will struggle with feelings for the rival she associates with in solving the impossible problem.

Can love be rationalized? Can human mind function in the absence of feelings? You will receive answers to these questions in the story Anna Novion co-wrote. The main problem with the film is, in my opinion, the fact that these answers are kind of what we expected. Focus is on mathematics and love. Social aspects that might have been interesting - the position of women in academia, the life of the Chinese community in Paris - are touched upon only tangentially. The plot is also quite predictable. A bit more boldness and a story with more surprises wouldn't hurt. Fortunately, much of these weaker parts are offset by Ella Rumpf's formidable acting performance. The actress is no longer very young, she is more than ten years older than the heroine she plays in this film and has a filmography of almost 20 films behind her. And yet, with this role she won the Lumiere award for 'best female revelation' and four other awards - completely deserved. Her Marguerite Hoffman is intelligent and vulnerable, passionate to the point of obsession when it comes to the mathematics she has known since childhood and when it comes to the love she discovers late. With any luck for her and us viewers, 'Le théorème de Marguerite' is the first major film of a great actress. Among the other actors in the cast, I cannot skip Jean-Pierre Darroussin in the role of the teacher who guides the heroine's steps in mathematics even when their paths diverge, alongside the girl's mother played by Clotilde Courau. Goldbach's conjuncture is still waiting for its demo, and we, the viewers, are waiting for the future films of director Anna Novion and actress Ella Rumpf.

It's a truth not quite universally acknowledged that films about hard intellectual or creative work, well, suck. I'm not sure if higher mathematics is particularly prone (all of Good Will Hunting except the Robin Williams bits; the -entirety- of A Beautiful Mind; everything but the facts of that Ramanujan film are at least as far removed as, say, Star Wars is and from astrophysics).

This, though, does not.

The central character is not a transcendent but flawed genius but hardworking and self-denying; the moments of inspiration (which are a real thing) look real and come through sheer effort, not effortless revelation with accompanying sound effects; and the scholarly politicking and casual STEM sexism are, well, true to life.

But - and this is probably burying the lede, sorry - it is also (1) splendid performances by all of the main cast; (2) a very thoughtful reflection on the connection between abstract thought and the human condition; and (3) an actually enjoyable film.

Everywhere you look it says this is a comedy I have a very broad definition of comedic but I cannot see for the life of Pete where in this extremely brilliant and original movie there is comedy

I really did not want to watch this because it is about mathematics and this when I was 10 years old and still now a word which makes my skin crawl and then eat itself

The first Half hour of this is certainly not comedy it is drama not cheerful

Then it shifts and becomes quite a different story quite a different film broadly it is about a very serious some would say anal retentive PhD student gifted with beyond what is usually construed as a Gift tripping herself up then running away then learning a lot more about life and then returning to the fold that is broadline the story here

The acting from the three top characters is excellent throughout especially the main actress here. I have personally never seen her in anything else but was struck by her presence and ability to get the viewer to really want to know what happens next

That is the definition of a great acting person you simply cannot tear yourself away from them and what they are doing on screen

The denouement at the end here is quite what one would expect but it takes nothing away from all the stages which came before

There are not many films made about high intelligence folks and their struggles most of the movie fare these days and always is really more to do with average folks and their shenanigans and is always very entertaining for all of us but here we have something unusual

There is a lot of mathematics written on blackboards a bit surprised quite frankly that they use chalk why not using some of the modern pens used in most countries I'm aware of in 2024 but hey

I have no idea how mathematicians who actually understand the formulae on the boards will react to this film but for a person for whom the multiplication tables are basically the apex of their mathematical prowess it was very impressive

Truly excellent film and truly unique highly recommended.