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The Human Stain Movie Poster
Plot, Details & Awards

The Human Stain

Rated R for language and sexuality/nudity.

R In Theaters 10/31/2003 , 106min.
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Plot & Details

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 racial slur. As the scandal heats up, Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise), a writer researching a biography of Silk, begins to dig deeper and deeper into Silk's life. Eventually, matters are made worse when an affair with a young married janitor named Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman) is exposed. But amid the controversy, Silk must struggle to keep his greatest secret, a secret he's held for the majority of his life, from becoming public. Ed Harris, who previously worked with Benton in 1984's Places in the Heart, also stars.
  • MPAA Rating: R
  • Genre(s): Drama
  • Run Time: 106min.
  • Theatrical Release Date: 10/31/2003
  • DVD Release Date: 07/20/2004
  • Distributor(s): Miramax
  • Director(s): Robert Benton
  • Starring: Anthony Hopkins , Nicole Kidman , Ed Harris , Gary Sinise , Wentworth Miller
  • Themes: Haunted By the Past,Self-Destructive Romance,Age Disparity Romance,Race Relations,Fired or Laid-Off
  • Tone: Angry,Biting,Cerebral,Literate,Downbeat,Poignant,Elegiac,Somber
  • Keywords: African-American,controversy,extramarital-affair,professor,racism,sex-scandal,writer
  • Country of Origin: USA - Limited (10-31-2003)
  • Language: English
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