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Tim Robbins, Patricia Arquette, Rhys Ifans, Miranda Otto, Robert Forster ... see more see more... , Mary Kay Place , Miguel Sandoval , Toby Huss , Peter Dinklage , Rosie Perez , Hilary Duff , Bobby Harwell , David Warshofsky , Ken Magee , Stanley DeSantis , Sy Richardson

Video director Michel Gondry and scriptwriter Charles Kaufman -- who shot to fame after penning Being John Malkovich -- collaborate on this bizarre fable about human behavior in and out of society. Th... read more read more...e film opens by quickly introducing the three leads -- Lila (Patricia Arquette) who is locked away in prison; Puff (Rhys Ifans) who is testifying before Congress; and Nathan Bronfman (Tim Robbins) who is sitting in a glowing white afterlife waiting room with a bullet hole in his head. Rewinding to the beginning of the story, the film shows Lila as a girl about to enter womanhood. Unfortunately, puberty goes horribly awry and she starts to grow thick hair all over her body. After performing as Queen Kong in a circus freak show, she chucks it all and goes to live in the forest, where she becomes the best-selling author of a misanthropic hard-line ecological tome. At age 30, her itch for male companionship becomes overwhelming and she ventures back into the city. She is helped by electrolysis guru Louise (Rosie Perez), who not only makes Lila presentable to society, but introduces her to Nathan, a 35-year-old virgin who, as a scientist, has devoted his life to teaching table etiquette to lab mice. While showing Nathan the joys of the wild outdoors, Lila and her new beau discover an extremely hirsute feral man whom they dub Puff. Placing him a cage in his lab, Nathan sets out to teach Puff the ways of polite society while dreaming of fame and fortune. The first task is to curb Puff's enormous sexual appetite -- any time he catches sight of a female, Puff either tries to hump her or masturbates vigorously. Nathan yokes him with an electric collar that shocks him any time he acts unseemly. Unfortunately, the humans on the other side of the cage can't quite control their libidos either: Nathan succumbs to the incessant double entendres of his saucy French assistant Gabrielle (Miranda Otto) while Lila finds an animalistic lust for Nathan's science experiment. This film was screened at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Flixster Users

61% liked it

11,904 ratings

Critics

49% liked it

94 critics

R, 1 hr. 36 min.

Directed by: Michel Gondry

Release Date: April 12, 2002

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DVD Release Date: December 10, 2002

Stats: 687 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (687)

  • paulkoh110
    December 27, 2011
    paulkoh110
    Its really something different. Kaufman is a genius but this direction he made for Human Nature asks a question but never fully answers it. It picks on human sexuality but never truly explores it. Its kind of an open ended question of a film.
  • FrizzDrop
    January 12, 2011
    FrizzDrop
    A Kaufman film unlike his usual repertoire, the first pairing between himself and director Michael Gondry was a premature effort. The subtle humor was there, and the story was obviously solid, but the vibe of anachronisms that were flouted made for a less than interesting movie w... read moreatching experience. Still, the performances by the main players were exceptional, especially the emotionally driven Rhys Ifans.
  • puffchunk
    January 23, 2008
    puffchunk
    Pretty good film, another Kaufman reflection of the loss of innocence, and very funny.
  • RossCollinsUK
    November 4, 2007
    RossCollinsUK
    Quirky movie that investigates human nature through a tale of three characters whose lives are connected through an "ape" theme: a man raised an ape, an ape-women, and an ape behavioural scientist.
  • gor41
    June 17, 2007
    gor41
    Better than the critics say - interesting ideas but does lose its way towards the end
  • nuheart
    December 26, 2006
    nuheart
    Kind of a let-down after Being John Malkovich, but Kaufman and Gondry found their stride together with Eternal Sunshine. I count this as a trial run.
  • mjgildea
    November 7, 2006
    mjgildea
    Charlie Kaufmann wrote it so that should say it all. Amazing and hilarious.
  • dreamfaeries
    November 7, 2006
    dreamfaeries
    Kinda lame...
  • mrbungle7821
    February 24, 2006
    mrbungle7821
    [font=Arial][color=darkred]Screenwriter Charlie Kaufman jumped on to Hollywood?s A-list when his feature debut ?Being John Malkovich? was unleashed in 1999. ?Malkovich? was a brilliant original satire on identity, be it celebrity or sexual, and was filled with riotous humor but a... read morelso blended beautifully with a rich story that bordered on genius that longer it went. Now Kaufman tries his hand expounding at the meaning of civilization versus animal instinct in ?Human Nature?. As one character tells another, ?Just remember, don?t do whatever your body is telling you to do and you?ll be fine.?[/color][/font]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]Lila (Patricia Arquette) is a woman burdened with excessive body hair ever since she was old enough for a training bra (with the younger version played by Disney?s Lizzie McGuire). Lila feels ashamed by her body and morbidly humiliated. She runs away to the forest to enjoy a life free from the critical eyes of other men. Here she can commune with nature and feel that she belongs.[/color][/font]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]Nathan (Tim Robbins) is an anal retentive scientist obsessed with etiquette. As a young boy Nathan was sent to his room for picking the wrong fork to eat his meal with. He is now trying his best to teach mice table manners so he can prove that if etiquette can be taught to animals it can be ingrained toward humanity.[/color][/font]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]Lila and Nathan become lovers when she ventures back into the city, eliminating her body hair for now, because of something infinitely in human nature ? hormones. The two of them find a form of content, as neither had known the intimate touch of another human being.[/color][/font]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]?Puff? (Rhys Ifans) is a grown man living his life in the woods convinced by his father that he is an ape. One day while walking through the woods Nathan and Lila discover the ape-man and have differing opinions on what should be done with him. Nathan is convinced that he should be brought into civilization and be taught the rules, etiquette and things that make us ?human.? It would also be his greatest experiment. Lila feels that he should maintain his freedom and live as he does in nature, how he feels he should.[/color][/font]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]What follows is a bizarre love triangle over the reeducation of ?Puff,? as Nathan?s slinky French assistant Gabrielle (Miranda Otto) names him. Lila is torn over the treatment of Puff and also her own society induced shame of her abundant amount of body hair. Nathan feels like he is saving Puff from his wayward primal urges, as he himself becomes a victim of them when he starts having an affair with Gabrielle. Puff, as he tells a congressional committee, was playing their game so he could find some action and ?get a piece of that.?[/color][/font]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]Kaufman has written a movie in the same vein as ?Being John Malkovich? but missing the pathos and sadly, the humor. ?Human Nature? tries too hard to be funny and isn?t nearly as funny as it thinks it is. Many quirky elements are thrown out but don?t have the same sticking power as Kaufman?s previous film. It?s a fine line between being quirky just for quirky?s sake (like the atrocious ?Gummo?) and turning quirky into something fantastic (like ?Rushmore? or ?Raising Arizona?). ?Human Nature? is too quirky for its own good without having the balance of substance to enhance the weirdness further. There are many interesting parts to this story but as a whole they don?t ever seriously gel.[/color][/font]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]Debut director Michel Gondry cut his teeth in the realm of MTV making surreal videos for Bjork and others (including the new Lego animated one for The White Stripes). He also has done numerous commercials, most infamously the creepy-as-all-hell singing navels Levi ad. Gondry does have a vision, and that vision is ?Copy What Spike Jonze Did As Best As Possible.? Gondry?s direction never really registers, except for some attractive time shifts, but feels more like a rehash of Jonze?s work on, yep you guessed it, ?Being John Malkovich?. Jonze got an Oscar nomination for his film debut; the best thing Gondry could expect to receive is a little more personal style.[/color][/font]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]Arquette and Robbins do fine jobs in their roles with Arquette given a bit more, dare I say it more, humanity. Her Lila is trapped between knowing what is true to herself and fitting in to a society that tells her that it?s unhealthy and wrong. Ifans has fun with his character and lets it show. The acting in ?Human Nature? is never really the problem.[/color][/font]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]While ?Human Nature? is certainly an interesting film (hey it has Arquette singing a song in the buff and Rosie Perez as an electrologist) but the sum of its whole is lacking. It?s unfair to keep comparing it to the earlier ?Malkovich? but the film is trying too hard to emulate what made that movie so successful. ?Human Nature? just doesn?t have the gravity that could turn a quirky film into a brilliant one.[/color][/font]

    [font=Arial][color=darkred]Nate's Grade: C+ [/color][/font]
  • gator681
    June 22, 2005
    gator681
    [font=Century Gothic]"Human Nature" starts out with Lila(Patricia Arquette) growing up with intense body hair issues. Afraid of disdain from her fellow humans, she goes to live a solitary life in nature and becomes a successful nature writer. While still enjoying being on her o... read morewn, she was beginning to realize certain sexual urges and decides to make herself presentable for the opposite sex and rejoin the human race.(Masturbation isn't an option?) All of which brings her into contact with an expert in electrolysis(a sadly wasted Rosie Perez) which brings her into contact with virginal scientist, Dr. Bronfman(Tim Robbins, channeling Albert Brooks) which brings her into contact with a man living in the wild(who else but Rhys Ifans?).[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]"Human Nature" is a disappointing off-kilter farce from the same writer(Charlie Kaufman) and the same director(Michel Gondry) who would make the wonderful "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" two years later. "Human Nature" wants to make the point about their being little difference between humans and animals when it comes to sexual conduct but humans have at least mastered birth control. And it does miss the opportunity to comment on animal experimentation. Robert Forster is the best thing about this movie. But what is up with Miranda Otto playing a French scientific assistant named Gabrielle?[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]Notes:[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic][/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]Patricia Arquette and Miguel Sandoval also star in the TV series "Medium."[/font]
    [font=Century Gothic]Miranda Otto and Tim Robbins reunite for the "War of the Worlds" remake coming out next week.[/font]

View All Human Nature Reviews

Critic Reviews

Michael Wilmington
July 20, 2002
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

Tries for both civilized wit and primitive joy -- and mostly misses both. Full Review

Geoff Pevere
April 26, 2002
Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

The simplicity with which it depicts these [animal] forces eternally at war with each other is sometimes sublimely evocative. Full Review

Liam Lacey
April 26, 2002
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

For all its highfalutin title and corkscrew narrative, the movie turns out to be not much more than a shaggy human tale. Full Review

Rex Reed
April 18, 2002
Rex Reed, New York Observer

It's all squeamishly pathetic in a freaked-out way, as the actors are reduced to primates and the movie makes no sense at all. Full Review

Richard Roeper
April 15, 2002
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

It's way out there, but not effective enough. Full Review

Desson Thomson
April 12, 2002
Desson Thomson, Washington Post

I could have used my two hours better watching Being John Malkovich again.

Stephen Hunter
April 12, 2002
Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

The results, if not memorable, are at least interesting. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
April 12, 2002
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

A satisfying and original picture. Full Review

Andrew O'Hehir
April 12, 2002
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

The funniest movie I've seen so far this year (which is saying almost nothing), but it has an air of pale, forced outrageousness about it. Full Review

John Anderson
April 12, 2002
John Anderson, Newsday

Human Nature is a goofball movie, in the way that Malkovich was, but it tries too hard. Full Review

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  • Hilary Duff plays a younger version of Patricia Arquette's character in what movie?  Answer »
  • This director is famous for driving actors crazy while doing multiple takes of a scene. His films feature perfect camera compositions. The dark side of human nature. Has made Sci Fi films, Comedies, War Films. His last film was made in 1999.  Answer »
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