The Human Stain

Director: Robert Benton Robert Benton

Overview

For his first film since 1998's Twilight, acclaimed director Robert Benton helmed this tense drama written by Fatal Attraction co-scribe Nicholas Meyer and based on the novel of the same name by Philip Roth. Set in the late '90s at the height of the Clinton sex-scandal, The Human Stain stars Anthony Hopkins as Coleman Silk, a respected professor at a New England college who suddenly finds his life unraveling after a comment he makes about some African-American students is misinterpreted as a racial slur. As the scandal heats up, Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise), a writer researching a biography of Silk, begins to dig deeper and deeper into Silk's life. Eventually, matters are made worse when an affair with a young married janitor named Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman) is exposed. But amid the controversy, Silk must struggle to keep his greatest secret, a secret he's held for the majority of his life, from becoming public. Ed Harris, who previously worked with Benton in 1984's Places in the Heart, also stars.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/27/2021
UPC:	0191329202289
Original Release:	2003
Source:	Miramax
Language:	English
Time:	1:45:00
Sales rank:	33,324

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Anthony Hopkins	Coleman Silk
Nicole Kidman	Faunia Farely
Ed Harris	Lester Farely
Gary Sinise	Nathan Zuckerman
Wentworth Miller	Young Coleman
Jacinda Barrett	Steena Paulsson
Harry Lennix	Mr. Silk
Clark Gregg	Nelson Primus
Anna Deavere Smith	Mrs. Silk
Lizan Mitchell	Ernestine
Kerry Washington	Ellie
Phyllis Newman	Iris Silk
Margo Martindale	Psychologist
Ron Canada	Herb Keble
Mili Avital	Young Iris
Danny Blanco Hall	Walter
Kristen Blevins	Young Ernestine
Anne Dudek	Lisa Silk
Mimi Kuzyk	Professor Delphine Roux
John Finn	Louie Borero
Jeff Perry	Tennis Player
Rick Snyder	Tennis Player
Danny Stone	Tennis Player
Vite DeFilippo	Mark Silk,Mark Silk
Robert Higden	Jeff Silk
Vlasta Vrana	Solly Tabak
Peter Cunningham	Boxer,Boxer
Richard Mawe	Doc Chizner
Allison Davis	Diner on the Train
Tom Rack	Bobcat
Bill Rowat	Swift
Richard Russo	Faculty Committee Member
Andrew Forge	Faculty Committee Member
Stella Arroyave	Faculty Committee Member
Jude Beny	Sally
John Cenatiempo	Boxer
Frank Proctor	Announcer
Deano Clavet	Boxing Coach
Sylvain Dore	St. Nicholas Referee
Neville Edwards	Colmeman's Cornerman
Phillip Collete Gervais	Train Conductor
Allison David	Diner on Train
Charles W. Gray	Minister
Edward Lafferty	Rally Protesters
Steven Grise	Rally Protester
Kim Gandol Ferenczi	Rally Protester
Terry Haig	Police Officer No. 2
Laurent Imbault	Administrative Officer
Sylvain Landry	Maitre D
Pierre LeBlanc	Naval Recruiter
Nwamiko Madden	Young man on the porch
Luc Morissette	Street Photographer
Philip Pretten	Record Store Manager
Jessica Shutle	Student
Kate Whitney	Mrs. Primus
Brea Asher	Primus's Secretary
Russell Yuen	Chinese Waiter
Jimmy Chang	Chinese Restaurant Owner
Lydia Zadel	Nature Center Girl
David Snell	Conductor
Rachel Portman	Composer
Marie Michel	Young Ernestine

Technical Credits

Nicholas Meyer

Robert Benton	Director
Deborah Aquila	Casting
Ron Bozman	Executive Producer,Producer
Jean Frenette	Stunts
Steve Hutensky	Executive Producer
Avy Kaufman	Casting
Eberhard Kayser	Executive Producer
Andre Lamal	Executive Producer
Gary Lucchesi	Producer
James McQuaide	Special Effects
Michael Ohoven	Executive Producer,Producer
Tom Rosenberg	Producer
Rick Schwartz	Executive Producer
Scott Steindorff	Producer
Bob Weinstein	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Tricia Wood	Casting
Nicholas Meyer	Screenwriter
Nan Morales	Producer
Marco Aiello	Special Effects
Bob Baron	Sound Effects
Catherine Bellazzi	Sound Effects
David Boulton	Sound Effects
Annie Carignan	Stunts

Editorial Reviews

Theatergoers enjoyed little opportunity to embrace this powerful drama, a serious adaptation of Philip Roth’s provocative novel. But the strong performances of Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman alone merit critical reappraisal of The Human Stain. Hopkins portrays Coleman Silk, a college professor forced from his tenured position, following the furor caused by an innocent remark interpreted by oversensitive black students as a racial slur. The irony is that Silk is himself an African American whose light complexion has enabled to him to pass as white. The dislocated academic soon begins an affair with Faunia Farley (Kidman), a school janitor half his age, and eventually comes to grips with the fact that he has nothing in common with her. Director Robert Benton, no stranger to dramatically complex character studies, demonstrates a solid understanding of the human values involved in this story. Coleman and Faunia have perhaps been drawn to each other by their mutual disillusionments: He realizes that denying his heritage has taken a toll on him, and she finds him a welcome relief -- despite their class and cultural differences -- from her abusive husband (Ed Harris). Their romance isn’t just a sexual fling; it’s a determination by two complex, troubled people to take another risk in hopes of bettering their lives. Nicholas Meyer’s script is subtle but strong, and the seemingly miscast stars sweep away all doubts about their suitability for their respective roles by performing with unusual sensitivity.

Barnes & Noble - Ed Hulse

Few titles convey unspecific malaise as well as The Human Stain, and few films address that malaise with such enviable starkness. Director Robert Benton brings to bear a career's worth of exploring the complexity of human relationships, and the top-to-bottom stellar cast backs him up nicely in a film that flew under the radar, but shouldn't have. Anthony Hopkins may not be far afield from his typical stately intellectual, but Nicole Kidman gives a harrowing demonstration of her range in the role of a dead-end divorcée, and Ed Harris exudes frightening menace as a war veteran whose instabilities might manifest themselves in any way, at any time. Not only does each of the main characters -- who include Gary Sinise as a withdrawn cancer survivor -- get enough screen time to struggle with their very different and very personal injuries, but a healthy stretch of Nicholas Meyer's adroit screenplay delves into the distant past, seamlessly. It's in this portion that the film develops a new, richer layer of meaning that couldn't be divined from either the trailers or the casting of the actors. Yet the film's present tense is also dense with currency and insight, smartly set during the Monika Lewinsky scandal as a means of criticizing our guilt-by-accusation society. That Hopkins' professor could be ruined over his correct usage of a term that's been bastardized into a racial slur echoes several prominent real-world instances of political correctness gone haywire. Although perhaps a little thematically obvious, setting the film in perpetually wintry conditions reminds a viewer of other powerful films involving emotional scarring, such as Affliction or The Ice Storm. The Human Stain is well worthy of joining their ranks.

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