| Revision as of 04:11, 26 December 2009 editErik (talk | contribs)Autopatrolled, Extended confirmed users, Page movers, File movers, Mass message senders, Pending changes reviewers, Rollbackers100,456 edits De-linked overlinking and misleading linking← Previous edit | Revision as of 04:48, 27 January 2010 edit undoCobraBot (talk | contribs)17,825 editsm Superfluous disambiguation removed per WP:NAMB (assisted editing using CobraBot; User talk:Cybercobra)Next edit → | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| {{for|other meanings|Human nature (disambiguation)}} | |||
| {{Infobox Film| | {{Infobox Film| | ||
| |name = Human Nature | |name = Human Nature | ||
Revision as of 04:48, 27 January 2010
2002 American film| Human Nature | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Michel Gondry |
| Written by | Charlie Kaufman |
| Produced by | Anthony Bregman, Ted Hope, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman |
| Starring | Patricia Arquette Rhys Ifans Tim Robbins Miranda Otto |
| Cinematography | Tim Maurice-Jones |
| Edited by | Russell Icke |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Production companies | StudioCanal Good Machine |
| Distributed by | Fine Line Features (USA), Pathé (UK) |
| Release date | April 12, 2002 |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,000,000 |
Human Nature is a 2001 American comedy film written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry. It was Kaufman's second produced screenplay, following his debut with Being John Malkovich; the film stars Tim Robbins, Rhys Ifans, Miranda Otto and Patricia Arquette. It was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.
Overview
A philosophical burlesque, Human Nature follows the ups and downs of an obsessive scientist, a female naturalist, and the man they discover who was raised in the wild as an ape. As scientist Nathan trains the wild man Puff in the ways of the world (starting with table manners), Nathan's lover Lila fights to preserve the man's simian past, which represents a freedom enviable to most. In the power struggle that ensues, an unusual love triangle emerges exposing the perversities of the human heart and the idiosyncrasies of the civilized mind. Human Nature is a comical examination of the trappings of desire in a world where both nature and culture are idealized.
Plot Summary
Most of the movie is told as flashback: Puff (Rhys Ifans) testifies to Congress, Lila Jute (Patricia Arquette) tells her story to the police, while a dead Nathan Bronfman (Tim Robbins) addresses an unseen audience in the netherworld.
Lila is a woman with a rare hormonal imbalance which causes thick hair to grow all over her body. During her 20's, Lila decides to leave society and live within nature where she feels free to exist comfortably in her natural state. She writes a book called "Fuck Humanity" (formerly "Wind in My Hair") about her naked, savage, happy, and free life in the woods embracing nature. Then, at age 30, strong sexual desire causes her to return to civilization and have her hair removed in order to find a partner.
The partner she finds is Dr. Nathan Bronfman, a psychologist researching the possibility of teaching table manners to mice. Lila and Nathan go hiking in the woods one day. Lila sights a naked man in the woods who has believed himself to be an ape his entire life. Lila discards her clothes and chases him until he's cornered on a tree branch. The man falls off the branch and fall unconscious as Nathan comes along. Nathan brings this man to his lab where the man is named Puff. This name is after his French research assistant, Gabrielle's (Miranda Otto) childhood dog. We discover later from her phone call to an unknown person that she is actually an Australian with a fake French accent. No one else ever hears it and it is never referred to again. First with the help of Gabrielle and later with Lila’s help, Nathan performs extensive manner training on Puff. Eventually Lila decides to take Puff back into the forest to undo his manner training and return him to his natural state.
Lila and Puff live naked in the woods together until Nathan finds them one day and Puff kills Nathan. Lila turns herself in as the murderer and asks Puff to testify on the waywardness of humanity before he returns to his home in the forest.
Some days later, Puff comes back out of the forest and gets into a car with Gabrielle, they both drive off to get food. (She still speaks with a French accent).
Visual style
Several shots in Human Nature recreate scenes from the Björk music video "Human Behaviour" (1993), also directed by Michel Gondry.
Cultural references
The film's structure closely follows the 1921 story A Report To An Academy, by the author Franz Kafka, in which an ape addresses a scientific audience, explaining the difficulties he encountered while becoming a man.
Production
Steven Soderbergh was first interested in directing Charlie Kaufman's script back in late 1996, when Kaufman was still trying to get Being John Malkovich produced. Soderbergh's considerations for casting were for David Hyde Pierce in the role of Nathan Bronfman, Chris Kattan in the role of Puff (likely due to his character Mr. Peepers on Saturday Night Live at the time), and Marisa Tomei in the role of Lila Jute. He was about to go into pre-production when he was offered Out of Sight and after much deliberation he left the project.
Though not as big a success as Gondry and Kaufman's next collaboration, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Roger Ebert, in a three-star review, lauded the film's "screwball charm".
References
- "Festival de Cannes: Human Nature". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
External links
| Films directed by Michel Gondry | |
|---|---|
| Features |
|
| Documentaries |
|
| TV series |
|
| Shorts/segments | |
| Music videos | |
| Animated films |
|