Review of The Human Stain (2003) by Julie R — 14 Nov 2003

I've decided to repost some recent reviews as I come across them just to collect them in one place. So please excuse me if you've read it before.

[i]Originally posted Oct. 12, 2003.

[/i][b]The Human Stain (2003)[/b].

Stars Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris. Directed by Robert Benton ([i]Places in the Heart, Kramer v. Kramer, Bonnie and Clyde[/i]).

The story concerns Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins), a respected professor of Classics, who is surprised when two students accuse him of using a racial slur in class. He is particularly surprised since neither student had ever been to a single one of his classes. Having never seen them, he did not know they were African-Americans when he questions aloud to the class whether they existed at all or were just "spooks". Even so, they file an official complaint and Coleman resigns in protest. His wife of many years suffers a fatal embolism and Coleman is left alone and unemployed.

He strikes up a friendship with a reclusive writer, Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise). During his conversations with Nathan, we learn through flashbacks something of Coleman's past. There are scenes showing his first love, his talent in the boxing ring, his family and the plans his father once had for his future. And we learn (in a delightful scene with Hopkins dancing with Sinise) that he is having an affair with a much younger woman and we can see that it has brought him back to life. We learn how Coleman came to know Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman), a lower-class woman who works three jobs - as a janitor at the college, at the post office and at a dairy farm milking cows. She has a great line to explain this: activity is the enemy of thought (I think it was). She is unhappy, with a troubled and mysterious past, and wants to keep busy every minute so she doesn't have to think about it. What happens in the rest of the story follows from this relationship between Coleman and Faunia and is complicated by the presence of her ex-husband, Lester (Ed Harris). Whether due to his experience in Vietnam or to something else, Lester seems a little unbalanced. To avoid unnecessary spoilers for anyone who doesn't know the story, I won't say more than this about the plot.

The film uses a non-linear form to tell its story so that the scenes shift from the near-present to the recent past and the more distant past, to finally sometime near today. The "near-present" of most of the film is 1998 and the affair of the former professor with the much younger woman is played out against the background of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The movie begins with a pivotal scene: a lone car drives down a snow-covered road and encounters a truck (that truck is immediately recognizable when we see it again), and then the scene shifts back to an earlier time. The scenes of Coleman's youth take us back to the 1940's. Seeing Coleman's past unfold allows us to learn the truth about him and the secret he has concealed.

I have not read Philip Roth's book that this movie is based on, so I did not have any preconceptions of how the characters should be portrayed. I thought that Hopkins and Kidman both deliver first-rate performances as Faunia and Coleman, two wounded people who are desperately lonely but afraid to be close to another person. Kidman seems to keep getting better in each role I see her in. She pulls off this "trailer trash" character admirably. Her Faunia is an enigma through most the film. She is very available sexually but emotionally inaccessible. Hopkins gives a performance of great depth that is a mixture of subtlety, sadness, confidence, vulnerability and some joy. And these two actors are good together. There are so many films in which there is a big age difference between a man and woman involved in a sexual relationship, and it is usually laughable because that difference is completely ignored. This is one film where it actually works. And it works [i]because[/i] it is strange and a little unnatural. Because that choice says something about the characters. I think the casting of Hopkins will be the thing that generates the most debate as more people see the film. I think he was a good choice. His acting is exceptional and he looks to be in every way the person that Coleman Silk has presented to the world for his entire adult life. Without that convincing appearance, the lie could not have been maintained and we would have lost the final irony - that the truth might have spared his career and lessened his loneliness.

The script doesn't give Gary Sinise much to work with in being the bystander, witness to and chronicler of the events. It is appropriate for the story, but it's a role that Sinise can just phone in - he's capable of much more. Ed Harris, always excellent in any role large or small, is creepy as Lester. The role of the young Coleman is played by Wentworth Miller, a promising young actor who was present at this screening.

One quibble I had is with a scene near the end between Sinise and Harris which was a little too ambiguous. But all in all, I thought it was an enjoyable and thought-provoking movie. It is quite serious in its tone and subject, but not without some humor. The pace is deliberate and thoughtful. For those who are looking for fast-paced action, you'd do well to skip it. But if you appreciate well-acted characters in a thoughtful, interesting story, check it out.