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The Human Stain [DVD] [2004]
 
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The Human Stain [DVD] [2004]

Anthony Hopkins , Nicole Kidman , Robert Benton    Suitable for 18 years and over   DVD
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
Price: £7.97 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Wentworth Miller
  • Directors: Robert Benton
  • Writers: Nicholas Meyer, Philip Roth
  • Producers: Andre Lamal, Bob Weinstein, Eberhard Kayser, Gary Lucchesi, Harvey Weinstein
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 18
  • Studio: Disney
  • DVD Release Date: 23 Aug 2004
  • Run Time: 106 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B0001XLY9C
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 13,677 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)

Reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review

Given the formidable challenge of adapting Philip Roth's acclaimed novel to the screen, it's a wonder that The Human Stain retains so much of what makes Roth's novel a masterpiece. As adapted by Nicholas Meyer, Robert Benton's film is inevitably a different animal altogether, and it's wide open to charges of miscasting and thematic diffusion. But at its core, this delicate drama succeeds in exposing the sins that stain all of humanity, forcing men like former welterweight boxer and esteemed professor Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins) to forsake family and career to conceal his African American heritage. Light-skinned and passing as a Jewish professor of classics in a tony East Coast college, 71-year-old Silk sinks into scandal when an innocent remark is misinterpreted as a racist slur, and this--along with his affair with an illiterate 34-year-old janitor (Nicole Kidman), and friendship with a reclusive novelist (Gary Sinise)--forms the crux of Benton's multilayered inquiry into the oppressive aftershocks of guilt, shame, and mourning, and the effects of judgment (internal and external) on our ability to connect. Roth's novel was one thing, Benton's film is another. Despite differing degrees of success, both are worthy of praise. --Jeff Shannon

From the studio

• Behind the Scenes

• Jean Yves Esoffier Tribute


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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Love in winter 6 Jan 2006
By Joseph Haschka HALL OF FAME TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
Ooooo! THE HUMAN STAIN offered the potential for so many Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Hopkins & Kidman), Best Supporting Actor (Miller, Harris, & Smith).

Hopkins is Coleman Silk, an aging and respected professor of literature at an idyllic New England liberal arts college, who, in the "now" of 1998, runs afoul of extremist political correctness. He's accused of racism after referring to two students, who've been absent from his class for the first 5 weeks of the term, as "spooks", i.e. ghosts. Silk has never met them under any circumstances, but, as bad luck would have it, they're both Black. Called onto the carpet by the Board, and receiving no support from those who should know better, Coleman angrily resigns. When Silk breaks the news to his wife, she suffers a fatal heart attack. As Coleman puts it, his persecutors killed the wrong person.

On the rebound, Silk meets Faunia Farely (Kidman), who holds down three blue collar jobs, is separated from her abusive husband, a psychotic Vietnam vet named Lester (Ed Harris), and who keeps the ashes of her two dead kids under the bed. Faunia describes her troubled situation as befitting "trailer trash", and carries more baggage than a loaded 747. But Silk is besotted, and embarks on a torrid love affair with the 30-year younger woman. As Silk declares to his writer friend Nathan (Gary Sinise):

"This is not my first love, it's not my great love, but it's my last love". It's love - and great sex - in the winter of Coleman's life. Even Viagra gets a verbal plug.

THE HUMAN STAIN is also a tale of "racial passing", i.e. the process of shifting one's racial identity. You see, Coleman has a secret that he's kept buried for decades. (No, it's not that he's Welsh like Hopkins, but something else.) The film jumps back and forth between 1998 and the late 1940s, when a young Silk (Wentworth Miller) chooses to make the transition and abandon his natural family forever. It's only now, in a last orgasm of sharing with Faunia, that Coleman can unburden himself.

The plot sounds like grist for a maudlin TV soap, but is raised to heights of excellence by extraordinary performances, especially Hopkins and Kidman. Hopkins wore green contact lenses to match Miller's eye color, and the two men synchronized speech and body movement characteristics to make the age transition as seamless as possible. Nicole spent time in shelters for abused women to acclimatize herself to aspects of the role. And a scene where she longs to touch the back of Coleman's neck is Oscar material by itself.

Perhaps the most poignant sequence involves the young Coleman and his mother (Anna Deavere Smith), when the latter suggests what her birthday present might be five years hence. It brings tears to her son's eyes, and perhaps some of those in the audience. Smith's role is not extensive, but certainly memorable.

"Human stain" refers to the indelible mark, however miniscule in the universal scheme of things, that each of us makes on the world and which can't be undone. This film is about Coleman's stain and his coming to terms with it.

At one point, Coleman asks Faunia, battered by life and circumstances, what she wants from their relationship. She responds: "kindness". This is, for each of us perhaps, the greatest truth of all.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
A director has the perogative to create a film as he sees fit. Just because the pace isn't speedy and rushed and it is 'flat' compared to the other 'action' films on the market, it doesn't make it a bad film.

The film was entirely appropriate to the novel. The pace was slow for a reason. Do you think the events that took place happened at an accelerated rate? NO! The characters lived and suffered and nothing about suffering is fast.

Alot happens in this film but you have to look deeply to find it. If everything in life needs to be served on a silver platter nothing would be interesting. If you pay attention (like you should whilst doing anything) you will notice more. Little jokes etc. shouldn't have to be obvious.

Characters develop, a story about the past unfolds and friendships form. Admittedly the role played by Ed Harris was under-developed and Gary Sinise's role was miss-cast but there have been worse mistakes in other movies that triumphed. (eg. Orlando Bloom's monotone performance in Lord of the Rings.) I completely agree with Jason Hood that Ed Harris' character deserved more screen time, (needed more screen time.)

I don't wish to pick a fight with the other reviewers, but I believe that if you give this movie a chance, you may come away with something. I think that as a movie it is entertaining but if you are not in the mood for a deep, intense film save it for another day. You have to be in the mood for it. If you ever have the time to watch it twice you may see that it's not so bad after all.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This movie, with its thought-provoking storyline was quite good. Wentworth Miller was the real star in this movie & gave the best performance playing the younger Coleman Silk. Some things in the story were vague like Silk's wife for instance. They basically brushed over her very quickly as if she were just somebody he was married to once & wasn't very significant to his life story. The ending was vague too. Like why did it happen? It was never crystal clear to me. There were just ifs...The subject matter was & is extremely important even today so it's well worth a watch. You will be entertained if you watch it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
How can one survive one's rejection of one's own blood?
This film is more than disquieting; It is disturbing. An older senior professor is fired (he resigns but that is the same) when confronted to some accusation of misconduct because... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Jacques COULARDEAU
Amazingly bad
Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins) is a highly respected college dean and professor. After one innocent remark is misinterpreted as a racist comment, he is forced to quit his job in... Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2009 by Kona
Highly recommended for Wentworth Miller Fans
This is a story of a white man - Coleman Silk - born into a black family, and all the social issues he has to deal with. Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2009 by Sabiha Janaan
Captured me from beginning to end.
Antony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman are just brilliant in their roles, in this movie that should be better known and regarded. Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2008 by David R. Bishop
Interesting plot-driven character study
Classics Professor Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins), exasperated that two students have yet to show up for his class points to their empty seats and ask rhetorically, "Do they exist... Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2007 by Dennis Littrell
Peak performances
This film grabs the viewer from the opening scene. Through a winter's bleak landscape, a car's easy progress along the dark road is enhanced by the sedate pace of the background... Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2007 by Stephen A. Haines
hum...
Pro's: Anthony Hopkins is credible; he is not hammy. Good point for Wentworth Miller, he's perfect: both A.Hopkins and W.Miller are charismatic in their common role. Read more
Published on 25 Oct 2006 by Chloe Word
I shall have to read the book now ...
"The Human Stain" is the film version of a highly acclaimed book by Philip Roth. It is a moving and powerful, if rather sad story. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2006 by Marshall Lord
MORE WEAKNESSES THAN STRENGTHS -- TOO BAD
The movie tries to tell the story of Coleman Silk, originally a poor kid from1930s East Orange who has remade himself into something else -- College Dean Silk [played by Anthony... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2005 by F. Sweet
A Great Love Story
Although this movie is not a great one, the DVD is great to have, thanks to the scene selection feature. Read more
Published on 8 Jan 2005
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