Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Anthony Hopkins | ... | Coleman Silk | |
Nicole Kidman | ... | Faunia Farley | |
Ed Harris | ... | Lester Farley | |
Gary Sinise | ... | Nathan Zuckerman | |
Wentworth Miller | ... | Young Coleman Silk | |
Jacinda Barrett | ... | Steena Paulsson | |
Harry 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 |
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. 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. It is Zuckerman who stumbles upon Silk's secret and sets out to reconstruct the unknown biography of this eminent, upright man, esteemed as an educator for nearly all of his life, and to understand how this ingeniously contrived life became unravelled. Written by lakeshoreentertainment.com
The Human Stain is a film about an elderly retired middle-class university professor called Coleman (played by Anthony Hopkins) who begins a relationship with a troubled woman (played by Nicole Kidman) who leads a white-trash existence, and the effects it has on both of them. It also has the side plots (but very much intertwined) of the elderly man's friendship with a young writer (character name Zuckerman)and the young woman's ongoing troubles with her ex-husband.
I thought this was a lovely film - Anthony Hopkins is excellent and extremely convincing in this role, as were the characters of Farley (the ex-husband) & Zuckerman. The friendship particularly between Zuckerman and Coleman was extremely warm and charming. However, whilst Nicole Kidman's acting was very good, I remained unconvinced by the character that she played. Aside from this, I found the film extremely engaging and believable.