An Italian movie about a mathematician with Asperger's syndrome. | Contributed by
Sandro Caparrini
The role of the protagonist is played by
Raoul Bova. According to Bova, It's the story of a young mathematics
professor afflicted with Asperger's syndrome, a disease that keeps him from
feeling any sort of emotion. In some respects, it's a condition like autism.
This professor finds himself falling in love with a vagrant woman, played by
Donatella Finocchiaro. These two souls encounter one another and together
embark on a journey, share certain experiences.
Since I am now in the USA, I have not yet been able to see it. However, I have
been told that the mathematical level is quite poor.
It seems to me that, according to film makers, mathematicians are a bunch of
crazy people. Just look at every recent movie on the subject! The good news is
that mathematicians are usually played by very handsome actors (for example,
Bova and Russell Crowe) or beautiful actresses (Gwyneth Paltrow).
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The title translates as "The Flame on the Ice". Note that mathematicians with autism/Asperger's are very common in mathematical fiction. (Click here to see some other examples.) I have not heard any reliable statistics on this at all and so do not know whether there is any actual link between autism and mathematics. Of course, there are some examples of people who are autistic and have mathematical skills, and there are examples of mathematicians with Asperger's. This shows that it is possible for the two traits to coincide. However, the question of whether mathematicians are more likely to exhibit autistic tendencies than the general population (and similarly whether autistic people are more likely to have mathematical abilities than the general population) is a different question. If anyone knows of evidence of a link (outside of fiction), please let me know!
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