THE HUMAN STAIN
Directed by: Robert Benton.
Produced by: Gary Lucchesi, Tom Rosenberg & Scott Steindorff.
Written by: Nicholas Meyer, based on the novel by Philip Roth.
Director of Photography: Jean-Yves Escoffier.
Edited by: Christopher Tellefsen.
Music by: Rachel Portman.
Released by: Miramax.
Country of Origin: USA/Germany/France. 106 min. Rated: R.
With: Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Wentworth Miller, Jacinda Barrett & Anna Deavere Smith.

The forced banner of academics joking about the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal sets the film’s tone, which wildly fluncuates from heavy-handed to understated. In the fictional New England college town of Athena, Coleman Silk (Hopkins) spectacularly falls from grace as the college’s dean when he makes an innocuous remark that is misinterpreted as a racial slur. Rather than reveal a secret, which would clear his name, Silk angrily resigns. Recently widowed, his spirits are lifted when he meets 34-year-old Faunia (Kidman). After accepting a ride from Coleman, she desultorily asks Coleman into her home, and thus embarks on an affair, even as she later warns him, “Don’t fall in love with me, Coleman. We’re just a man and a woman. Nothing else matters.” Speaking like a femme fatale, her motto is, “Action is the enemy of thought.” Not only does she milk cows for her keep, she’s a janitor at the post office and the college. Though they are of a different generation and socioeconomic strata, they have one strong commonality - their self-hatred. Coleman’s past, by far the film’s most gripping story line, is told in flashbacks. However, the motivation of the young Coleman (Wentworth Miller) in an important plot point is too opaque. He either is cruel or hopeful, none of which is apparent in Miller’s performance. Yet this turning point is crucial in depicting Silk’s character. And cramming Roth’s novel into a 100-minute film, character transitions are abrupt. Hopkins comes across as not merely angry but strident. In an obvious stretch, Kidman’s acting calls attention to itself, especially with her broad gestures. When she first appears by the side of the rode, her car having broken down, Kidman seems to be posing. And with a cigarette constantly in hand, it’s acting by Lucky Strike. However, when she is simply confessing or apologizing, she’s effectively moving, as are Jacinda Barrett, as Coleman’s first love, and Anna Deavere Smith, as his mother. Kent Turner
November 4, 2003