The Human Stain (2003)
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Reviews Counted: 150
Fresh: 64 | Rotten: 86
Though the acting is fine, the leads are miscast, and the story is less powerful on screen than on the page.
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 41
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 25
Though the acting is fine, the leads are miscast, and the story is less powerful on screen than on the page.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 15,363
Movie Info
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
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Cast
-
Anthony Hopkins
Coleman Silk -
Nicole Kidman
Faunia Farley -
Ed Harris
Lester Farley -
Gary Sinise
Nathan Zuckerman -
Wentworth Miller
Coleman Silk as a yo... -
Jacinda Barrett
Steena Paulsson -
Harry J. 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 R... -
John Finn
Louie Borero -
John Cenatiempo
Boxer -
Deano Clavet
Boxing Coach -
Peter "Sugarfoot" Cu...
Boxer -
Allison Pratt Davis
Diner on the Train -
Laurent Imbault
Administrative Offic... -
Richard Mawe
Doc Chizner -
Jeff Perry
Tennis Player -
Tom Rack
Bobcat -
Danny Stone
Tennis Player -
Vlasta Vrana
Solly Tabak -
Russell Yuen
Chinese Waiter -
Terry Haig
Police Officer #2 -
Philip Pretten
Record Store Manager -
Rick Snyder
Tennis Player -
Brea Asher
Primus' Secretary -
Charles W. Gray
Minister -
Richard Russo
Faculty Committee Me... -
Robert Higden
Jeff Silk -
Luc Morisette
Street Photographer -
Pierre Yves Leblanc
Naval Recruiter -
Neville Edwards
Coleman's Cornerman -
Jude Beny
Sally -
Jimmy Chang
Chinese Restaurant O... -
Vito DeFilippo
Mark Silk -
Sylvain Dore
St. Nicholas Referee -
Kim Gandol Ferenczi
Rally Protester -
Andrew Forge
Faculty Committee Me... -
Phillip Collete Gerv...
Train Conductor -
Steven Grise
Rally Protester -
Edward Lafferty
Rally Protester -
Sylvain Landry
Maitre D -
Nwamiko Madden
Young Man on the Por... -
Frank Proctor
Announcer -
Bill Rowat
Swift -
Jessica Shutle
Student -
Kate Whitney
Mrs. Primus -
Lydia Zadel
Nature Center Girl -
Stella Arroyave
Faculty Committee Me...
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All Critics (166) | Top Critics (45) | Fresh (64) | Rotten (86) | DVD (21)
One of those films that makes you say, 'That was powerful. Now what the hell was it about?'
Top Critic... solid but not great.
It is hard to buy what The Human Stain is peddling.
The Human Stain takes a complex work of literary art and reduces it to tasteful melodrama.
Works wonderfully as an actor's movie. The trouble is, that's the only way it works.
The problem is that neither Kidman nor Hopkins seems to know what movie they are in.
So finely tooled that it feels like it ought to be bound in Morocco leather and placed on a display case in a department store for a last minute Christmas gift.
Flawed adaptation of Roth's novel isn't for kids.
Casting a stain.
Both Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins are vastly miscast in Robert Benton's poor adaptation of Philip Roth's poignant novel, one of the few works about contempo academic battlefields.
The acting is phenomenal (especially Harris), and the film will be a nice challenge for those in search of one.
One of the most underrated pictures of 2003.
The film's frame groans in its attempt to contain such a complex story, and its actors ask us to accept implausible things... but it's ultimately rewarding.
A tricky adaptation of an unlikely novel that nevertheless goes almost as wrong as possible...prey to the most amateur varieties of structural and tonal errors.
...a potboiler disguised as a work of art.
In an obvious stretch, Kidman's acting calls attention to itself, especially with her broad gestures.
It is a well-dressed, good-looking wax dummy of a film.
a well-acted misfire...
Watching Kidman mop floors impressed me with same effect as seeing George W. Bush fly a fighter jet.
Além das péssimas escalações de Hopkins e Kidman, que simplesmente não convencem em seus papéis, o filme ainda sofre em função do roteiro sem foco de Meyer.
It's a thought-provoking, unusually intelligent and well-acted film.
A valiant attempt to bring a difficult book (Philip Roth's The Human Stain) to the screen that's undermined by the added distraction of Nicole Kidman as a char lady.
Sensitively written and directed but spectacularly miscast.
There are some terrific scenes.
A well-acted and well-intentioned film, but the plot is laughably inept.
The Human Stain is an interesting film that doesn't quite work. [It] is probably the best film version possible of what is essentially an unfilmable work.
Audience Reviews for The Human Stain
Super Reviewer
The Human Stain is essentially the story of two people's pasts and the events that still deeply affect their emotions and psyches. It takes a while before the entirety of the story is revealed, but if you're anything like me then you'll find yourself completely fascinated with each of the main characters by the end.
There are one or two scenes that come of as less than aunthentic, but these littlle missteps help to keep the story humming along, so I can't complain too much. I highly recommend The Human Stain, it's very well put together and even managed a few unexpected twists and turns.
Super Reviewer
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- Ernestine: People are just getting dumber.
-
- Coleman Silk: I don't think you can measure sorrow.
-
- Coleman Silk: I am not afraid of dying. I'm not the one who ran off to a cabin in the woods to hide out.
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