FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
THE HUMAN STAIN
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
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