Along
with its satirical and sometimes angry portrait of academic life, Philip Roth’s
novel, The Human Stain, confronts
some complicated cultural issues revolving around race and the delicate and
often ridiculous notion of political correctness. While adhering to some of the
essence of Roth’s book, the film version of the novel mostly touches on those
issues without fully engaging them, which may constitute the chief defect in an
otherwise authentic and often touching motion picture. Perhaps because of the
difficulty of visualizing the largely internal and cerebral tensions of an
academic community, it must concentrate on the personal predicament of its
central character and therefore become more an academic melodrama than an
academic satire.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Anthony Hopkins plays Coleman Silk,
a rather elderly professor of classics and dean of the faculty at a New England
college, apparently one of those small but entirely tweedy institutions
sometimes known as the Potted Ivies. While lecturing on The Iliad (in a rather dubious interpretation, by the way) he questions
the existence of two students whose names appear on his roster but have never
appeared, referring to them as “spooks,” i.e., ghosts. The students, whom we
never see, turn out to be African American and, goaded by one of those odious
theoretical ideologues on the faculty, file a complaint of racism against the
professor. With the familiar professorial pusillanimity, his colleagues fail to
support him, and he is forced to resign.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย From the point of Silk’s departure
from the faculty, the film moves away from the academic matters of the novel to
a series of flashbacks that balance the professor’s previous life with present
events. Although he is supposedly the first Jewish professor of classics at the
college, Coleman actually is a black man who since his youth has “passed” for
white, a circumstance apparently based on the life of the literary critic
Anatole Broyard. The movie shows some of the profound emotional complication of
Silk’s choice, its devastating effect on his family and the lifetime of internal
conflict, guilt, and anger that he suffers.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย In the present, however, The Human Stain focuses on Silk’s
liaison with Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman), a troubled young woman who works on
the maintenance staff of the college. Faunia brings her own pain, guilt, and
anger to the relationship. The learned old man and the uneducated woman, who calls
herself “trailer trash,” embark on a torrid sexual affair, assisted by Viagra,
as he tells his friend and the author’s continuing alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman
(Gary Sinise). Ignoring poison-pen letters from his faculty enemy, the warnings
of both his lawyer and his friend, and the threats of Faunia’s demented
ex-husband (Ed Harris), Silk vows to continue the affair. As he tells Nathan,
Faunia may not be his first love or his greatest love, but she is his last
love.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย That final love underlines the
ultimate sadness of the flashbacks to Silk’s youth in his (and Roth’s)
hometown, Newark, New Jersey, where he excelled both as a student and an
athlete, winning numerous academic honors, and knocking out opponents in the
boxing ring. As the picture alternates between past and present, those
flashbacks suggest some insight into the anger that propels the professor’s
behavior. Faunia’s anger, which more than matches his, derives from an abusive
childhood and the deaths of her two young children, a result, she believes, of
her own neglect. The ex-husband, a dangerous psychopath, ultimately ignites the
explosive triangle with his own brand of lunatic rage.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Despite its occasional moments of
humor and its important theme of race, Nicholas Meyer’s script and Robert
Benton’s direction tend to transform the book into one of those classic
American “Northerns.” In its intense focus and tragic consequence, The Human Stain now and then resembles
those austere moral tales of adulterous love played out against the bleak
landscape of a New England winter, in the tradition of The Scarlet Letter, say, or Ethan
Frome. The movie emphasizes more strongly than the book a harsh sense of
judgment and loss, making it more a story of passion and punishment.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย The performances of the two
principals enliven what could be an overwhelmingly dark story with significant
emotional strength and depth. Usually rather understated, here Hopkins plays
Coleman Silk as an eccentric but not inexperienced intellectual, so overcome by
his new, last love that he now and then even seems somewhat deranged. Nicole
Kidman, however, remains the most pleasing surprise of the movie, replacing her
usual lovely, porcelain passivity with a sluttish sexiness, revealing a
versatility she has rarely demonstrated before. She and Hopkins work
wonderfully well together, suggesting both fire and feeling in the familiar
relationship between the wise old man and the sexy young woman, making it the
real core of the film.
The Human Stain, starring Anthony Hopkins,
Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Wentworth Miller, Jacinda Barrett, Harry
J. Lennox, Clark Gregg, Anna Deavere Smith, Phyllis Newman; based on the novel
by Philip Roth; screenplay by Nicholas Meyer; directed by Robert Benton.
Pittsford Plaza Cinema; Regal Henrietta.
You
can hear George and his movie reviews on WXXI-FM 91.5 Fridays at 7:20 a.m.,
rerun on Saturdays at 8:50 a.m.
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2003.
