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The Human Stain

How far would you go to escape the past?

2003 · 1h 46m · R Drama, Romance
Directed by Robert Benton

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Overview

Coleman Silk is a worldly and admired professor who loses his job after unwittingly making a racial slur. To clear his name, Silk writes a book about the events with his friend and colleague Nathan Zuckerman, who in the process discovers a dark secret Silk has hidden his whole life. All the while, Silk engages in an affair with Faunia Farley, a younger woman whose tormented past threatens to unravel the layers of deception Silk has constructed.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
41%
Tomatometer
Rotten

One of those films that makes you say, 'That was powerful. Now what the hell was it about?'

David Edelstein, Slate
Fresh

... solid but not great.

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper
Rotten

It is hard to buy what The Human Stain is peddling.

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic
Fresh

The Human Stain takes a complex work of literary art and reduces it to tasteful melodrama.

Charles Taylor, Salon.com
Rotten

Works wonderfully as an actor's movie. The trouble is, that's the only way it works.

Desson Thomson, Washington Post

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