Its also about the way that carefully constructed new personas, no matter how scrubbed and burnished, cant erase the stain of the original. The human stain contains a significant secret about one of the. Being accused of racism and being forced to leave his job, coleman also has to come to terms with the. Coleman silk anthony hopkins is a worldly and admired professor who loses his job after unwittingly making a racial slur. Set in a small new england college town, this drama follows the story of a respected classics professor with a terrible secret. The human stain on dvd july 20, 2004 starring anthony hopkins, nicole kidman, gary sinise, wentworth miller. Few in film, writing or directing, are as good with their craft as roth is with his. When his affair with young troubled janitor faunia farley nicole kidman is uncovered, the secret silk had harbored for over fifty years from his wife, his children, and colleague, writer nathan zuckerman gary sinise, fast explodes in a conflagration of devastating consequences. Coleman silk is a classics professor, a man who was once well respected in his small community before an accusation took from him the identity he spent fifty years creating. With anthony hopkins, nicole kidman, ed harris, gary sinise. Based on pulitzer prizewinning author philip roths bestselling novel, the human stain is the story of coleman silk, who throughout his life has been a master of deception and selfreinvention. This film has a great cast anthony hopkins, nicole kidman, gary sinise, ed harris all talented actors, and all give creditable performances. Yes, we have to suspend disbelief over the casting, but thats easier since we can believe the stories of these people.
The dehumanizing power of racism is an undeniable part of americas past, but it was every bit as important a discussion in the early years of the new millennium when the film. The human stain movie is one of the most important films that i have viewed in a long time. The comes as a bit of a surprise considering the wealth of talent involved. The human stain is only an imprint rather than a cohesive film.
The story of coleman silk hopkins, a distinguished professor at a prestigious new england college whose professional life is shattered by allegations of racism and whose personal life is infected with. Adapting the human stain would mean dominating the audience the same way roth does his readers, taking you to an aesthetic back country from which there is no coming home unchanged. All of the characters battle demons, and all fight differently. The human stain is the story of coleman silk hopkins, a classics professor with a terrible secret that is about to shatter his life in a small new england town.
Why does roth begin the novel by establishing the parallel story of the public scandal over bill clintons affair with monica lewinskya scandal that revived americas oldest communal passion, historically perhaps its most treacherous and subversive pleasure. And this isnt a movie like the crying game, which is really about its secret. When a disgraced former college dean has a romance with a mysterious younger woman haunted by her dark, twisted past, he is forced to confront a shocking fact. The human stain intelligent adaptation of philip roths unfilmable novel, destined to provoke controversy.
The human stain 2003 stream and watch online moviefone. The latter fact is particularly noteworthy, taking into account. In the new film the human stain, based on the philip roth novel, actor wentworth miller plays the. The human stain is essentially the story of two peoples pasts and the events that still deeply affect their emotions and psyches. This is the story of coleman silk sir anthony hopkins, a classics professor with a terrible secret that is about to shatter his life in a small new england town. Academy award winners anthony hopkins the rite and nicole kidman nine along with gary sinise tvs csi. The story, known as a drama, romance, and thriller can be difficult to buy into when we can glean from the movie poster alone that anthony hopkins and. The movie of the human stain confirmed my indifference toward the adaptation of any literary works.
The human stain is a drama starring anthony hopkins and nicole kidman. Coleman silk, a respected university classics professor, is involved in a passionate affair with a cleaning woman who is married to a jealous, violent man. The human stain digs deep into racism and its attendant politics in the 20th century. The human stain is a haunting, melancholy tale of one mans hidden shame that leads him to make incredibly unwise decisions throughout his life. The human stain is a novel of identity that revolves around the love affair of two people who could not be more opposite. As with the distinguished academic career of the main character of the human stain, mels career, having extended for over forty years as a scholar and a.
Nathan zuckerman gary sinise, coleman silk anthony hopkins. Most movie characters are like greek gods and comic book heroes. Philip roths ambitious and literary novel is awkwardly adapted for the screen. The human stain is a novel by philip roth set in late 1990s rural new england. The new york times last week broke the story of hollywood producer harvey weinsteins long record of sexual harassment. I felt no sympathy with any of the characters and had no feelings. Anthony hopkins plays coleman silk who is a disgraced college professor.
Everything you need to know about the human stain movie 2003. The catalyzing moment in the plot of the human stain was inspired, we learn, by an actual event in tumins life. The human stain, published in 2000, is a novel by american novelist philip roth. Oct 31, 2003 the human stain has been directed by robert benton with a sure feel for the human values involved. During a class attendancecall, tumin uttered the word spooks in reference. This movie is based around the life of a classics professor coleman, who is currently living in a small new england town. The narrator of the human stain is nathan zuckerman, a writer, who tells the story of a series of events happening to his neighbor in rural new england in the summer of 1998. Analytical essay of the movie the human stain free essays.
The human stain is, contradictorily, drained of color by the spotlight turned on its charismatic leads. Hopkins plays a lightskinned africanamerican professor who has spent his entire life telling people he is jewish. Watch the human stain online stream full movie directv. Actresses including rose mcgowan and ashley judd came forward to detail. The human stain summary and study guide supersummary. Theres no way we can contain the secret, and were not even trying to, the film s producer, tom rosenberg, told me at the toronto film festival.
The human stain, directed by robert benton from a screenplay by. While there is a central narrator, nathan zuckerman, through whose eyes and ears, we learn about the antihero coleman silk, there are different voices that make up the whole story. The hendersonville film society will show the human stain sunday, sept. Ernestine tells zuckerman about how silks family divorced him, and is amazed that coleman didnt reveal his race when charged with racism. When his affair with a young troubled janitor kidman is uncovered, the secret silk had harbored for over fifty years from his wife, his children and colleague, writer. A lightskinned negro decides to pass as white and to do so successfully, he separates himself from his family. Coleman silk is the head of the literature department at a new england college.
When a disgraced former college dean has a romance with a mysterious younger woman haunted by her dark, twisted past, he is forced to confront a shocking fact about his own life that he has kept secret for fifty years. It is as though it is written by different people, with variable success. He is probably best know for his humorous novels portnoys complaint and goodbye columbus, the latter of which was made into a movie in the 1970s. Because human stain is so stylistically inert, the filmmakers keep the particulars of colemans genetic code hushhush for as long as they can. At the same time, the film is apparently interesting for the wide audience and attracts the attention of numerous viewers. The pasts of the main protagonists unfold, making their characters exceptionally deep. Anthony hopkins and nicole kidman star in the human stain, a romantic drama about a man and his demons. The characters are stained by events or other people, but the story exposes the importance of how we react to adverse situations. Book of secrets star in the provocative mystery the human stain. The human stain has those qualities we often want but rarely see in our films. This focus makes the movie less of a typical story and more of a study of 4 characters and their lives during a period of time. Early in the film, dating a white girl, he takes her home to meet his mother, having not made it clear he is black.
It is the story of a mixed race family where one son played by anthony hopkins looks like a white person and then pretends all his life to be jewish. The human stain 2003 rotten tomatoes movie trailers. Most overcome their stain, and they do it through loving and being loved. The story of coleman silk hopkins, a distinguished professor at a prestigious new england college whose professional life is shattered by allegations of racis. The human stain is the last of an informal trilogyamerican pastoral and i married acommunist are its siblingswith the aim of illuminating schisms in. It takes a while before the entirety of the story is revealed. This is a central question alluded to in the title of philip roths novel, the human stain, and adapted in director robert bentons 2003 film starring anthony hopkins and nicole kidman. Story of a man who has lived a lie all his life and seeks one last chance of happiness. The human stain is a flawed but engrossing story about the way that people try to escape their pasts. The sites consensus reads, though the acting is fine, the leads are miscast, and the story is less powerful on screen than on the page. The movie is full of sex, nudity, profanity, smoking, some violence, and a life is meaningless, so find someone as damaged as yourself to console you message combined with, true happiness is. A good adaptation is rare because what makes the writer great cannot translated into the language of film.
Released october 31st, 2003, the human stain stars anthony hopkins, nicole kidman, ed harris, gary sinise the r movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 46 min, and received a score of 57 out of 100. One day, his carefully constructed life threatens to unravel due to an incident with his students. To clear his name, silk writes a book about the events with his friend and colleague nathan zuckerman gary sinise, who in the process discovers a dark secret silk has hidden his whole life. Introduction the human stain is a film released in 2003 that became extremely popular, especially among the audience which gets used to being characterized as intellectuals. Though theyve never met, coleman shows up at writer nathan zuckermans house with a story he wants him to write. When his affair with young troubled janitor faunia farley nicole kidman is uncovered, the secret silk.
This is an r rated movie with adult and sexual themes. As a result, whatever humor carries over from the book is either betrayed or sure to be lost to anyone unfamiliar with the story. He enlists in the navy as white, attends college as white, and marries a white woman as white. Secrets of the skin, and of the heart the new york. All the while, silk engages in an affair with faunia farley nicole kidman, a. This film isnt really about racism, nor is it about a long kept secret. It is an angry, ungainly squall of a book, a clamorous defense of sexual vitality in. The human stain tackles a great many things, with racism and africanamerican struggles being only the largest of the many themes at play. The human stain 2000 is a novel by philip roth that was published on may 5, 2000. The human stain by philip roth book club discussion. It takes a while before the entirety of the story is revealed, but. Met een handvol hollywoodsterren, een zoetromantische soundtrack en een sterk vereenvoudigde plot moest het een intelligente film opleveren. Not many movies probe into matters of identity or adaptation. Watch the human stain movie trailers, exclusive videos, interviews from the cast, movie clips and more at.
The human stain has a revelation in store about silks private life that in movie terms becomes a convulsive twist, a space mountain looptheloop of irony on whose rails the film s supposed. Jan 19, 2004 the human stain is a neverending trip into the depths of character development, and the end result is a bit of a mixed bag. The human stain is a schizophrenic, if not unevenly written novel. This is a story of a classics professor, coleman silk, who has a secret that he hides his entire life practically. The human stain is the film based on the novel by philip roth and is quite close to the original literary work. This is the story of coleman silk sir anthony hopkins, a classics. Im sure there was a story worth telling but this was not the way. The human stain trailer 2003 the story of coleman silk anthony hopkins, a distinguished professor at a prestigious new england college whose professional life is shattered by allegations of racism and whose personal life is infected with. Its first person narrator is 65yearold author nathan zuckerman, who appeared in several earlier roth novels, and who also figures in both american pastoral 1997 and i married a communist 1998, two books that form a loose trilogy with the human stain. The opposite is so rare, that i can remember the one time i watched a movie and went to the book. Between the labors of simplifying the story for the screen and accommodating the stardust of worldclass actors, an essentially, uniquely american tragic hero and heroine are bleached of real american tragedy. Movies like the human stain if you like the human stain you are looking for sincere, serious and emotional movies about with tennis, haunted by the past, dishonesty, loss of child, hidden identity, self destructing and love affair themes of drama, romance and thriller genre shot in germany or france.
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