A Beautiful Mind — 一個聰明浪漫的愛情故事(?)

*Character

John Nash is a mathematical genius who devotes himself to finding an original idea for his thesis paper when he is in the Princeton University. He is very smart and a little weird so that when he begins developing Schizophrenia no one notices and no one can help him. In the film, Nash has an imaginary roommate named Charles Herman since he enters Princeton. Someday he “thought” he encounters William Parcher, a Department of Defense agent, who invites Nash to decipher the code for military use. Nash’s illness grows worst and then he is sent into psychiatric hospital to treat his illness. In his treatment, there are many side-effects that Nash cannot bear then he and his wife decide not to take the antipsychotic drugs but try to cure himself by getting involved in real life and building relationship with others in Princeton. Then the several years Nash does his study in the library and audits classes in Princeton. Nash ignores his delusion gradually and lives a normal life then he earns the privilege of teaching again. In the end of the movie, Nash is honored by his fellow professor and wins the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work on game theory. In the movie shows that John Nash has a clever and beautiful mind to face the illness and resolve his problems.


Alicia Nash
John’s wife; she is Nash’s student when he is teaching Calculus at MIT. Once Nash places a problem on the blackboard for student to figure out and Alicia comes to Nash’s office to discuss the problem with him. And they fall in love with each other and they get married.

Martin Hansen
Nash's rival from his graduate school years at Princeton but they are still friends. When Nash tries to get himself involved in the real life to cure his illness, Martin is the head of the Princeton mathematics department and permits him to stay in the Princeton’s campus.

Dr. Rosen
Nash's doctor at a psychiatric hospital.

Sol and Bender
Tow friend of Nash's from Princeton University who are chosen to work with him at MIT.

*Words
Delusion: a false belief about yourself or the situation you are in
Hallucination: something which you imagine you can see or hear, but which is not really there
Schizophrenia : a serious mental illness in which someone's thoughts and feelings are not based on what is really happening around them

*Dialog/Lines

(1) John is a little weird and direct person and it can be seen in two scenes:
When he first want to date with a girl in the beginning of the movie:
“I don't exactly know what I am required to say in order for you to have intercourse with me. But could we assume that I said all that. I mean essentially we are talking about fluid exchange right? So could we go just straight to the sex? “

And when he dates with Alicia he tell her that he always gets unpleasant results when being direct.
“I find you very attractive. Your aggressive moves toward me indicate that you feel the same way. But still, ritual requires that we go through a number of platonic activities before we have sex. I'm simply proceeding with those activities. But in point of actual fact, all I really want to do is have intercourse with you as soon as possible.”

(2) Nash is very different from others and his proposal is also different.
Nash: Alicia, does our relationship warrant long-term commitment? I need some kind of proof, some kind of verifiable, empirical data.
Alicia: I'm sorry, just give me a moment to redefine my girlish notions of romance.

Alicia: How big is the universe?
Nash: Infinite.
Alicia: How do you know?
Nash: I know because all the data indicates it's infinite.
Alicia: But it hasn't been proven yet.
Nash: No.
Alicia: You haven't seen it.
Nash: No.
Alicia: How do you know for sure?
Nash: I don't, I just believe it.
Alicia: It's the same with love I guess.

(3) Game Theory translates simple in the movie:
“If we all go for the blonde and block each other, not a single one of us is going to get her. So then we go for her friends, but they will all give us the cold shoulder because no one likes to be second choice. But what if none of us goes for the blonde? We won't get in each other's way and we won't insult the other girls. It's the only way to win. It's the only way we all get laid.”

(4) When Martin ask John whether he still has the delusions:
“I've gotten used to ignoring them and I think, as a result, they've kind of given up on me. I think that's what it's like with all our dreams and our nightmares, Martin, we've got to keep feeding them for them to stay alive.”
This line makes me think that in the film, John views his delusions as a kind ideals and frustrations in our lifetime. We must have these things and cannot get rid of it. We just have to live our own life with dreams and nightmares; just like Nash, do not give up hopes, look on the bright side in your life, ignore what you are afraid of and keep going. And also you will have to keep feeding your dreams and nightmares because cannot avoid them as a human.

In the end of the movie, there is one scene John tells his fellow professor:
“ I still see things that are not here. I just choose not to acknowledge them. Like a diet of the mind, I just choose not to indulge certain appetites; like my appetite for patterns; perhaps my appetite to imagine and to dream.”
This line along with the former one Nash says about dreams and nightmares, does that also have other meaning like we all have to face the challenge and have the courage to conquer it?

這部電影在高中時似乎是管嬤就叫我們去看過，那時候一點都不能理解它XD
大學的最後一學期選了這部電影+原著小說來作報告 （小說我逼迫了某人看，因為真的對我來說太難了XD），反而有新體會。

真的要挑戰自己:)
還有感謝某人的堅持，你很有氣質耶我發現 XD