Taglines: In the Interest of Civilization… Conform.
A philosophical burlesque, Human Nature follows the ups and downs of an obsessive scientist, a female naturalist, and the man they discover, born and raised in the wild. 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.
Human Nature is a 2001 American-French comedy-drama film written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Michel Gondry in his directorial debut. The film stars Tim Robbins, Rhys Ifans, Miranda Otto and Patricia Arquette. It was screened out of competition at the 54th Cannes International Film Festival.
About the Story
Most of the film 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 20s, Lila decides to leave society and live within nature where she feels free to exist comfortably in her natural state. She writes a successful book 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 American with a fake French accent. First with the help of Gabrielle and later with Lila’s help, Nathan performs extensive manner training on Puff, so that he can speak and go through the motions of appreciating high culture, though he still has difficulty controlling sexual urges.
To demonstrate his success, Nathan takes Puff on tour. Puff secretly drinks heavily and patronizes prostitutes. Meanwhile, Nathan and Lila’s relationship deteriorates and Nathan has an affair with Gabrielle. 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. After the reporters and spectators leave, 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).
Human Nature (2002)
Directed by: Michel Gondry
Starring: Patricia Arquette, Tim Robbins, Peter Dinklage, Miranda Otto, Rhys Ifans, Hilary Duff, Peter Dinklage, Toby Huss, Daryl Anderson, Mary Kay Place
Screenplay by: Charlie Kaufman
Production Design by: K.K. Barrett
Cinematography by: Tim Maurice-Jones
Film Editing by: Russell Icke
Costume Design by: Nancy Steiner
Set Decoration by: Peter Andrus
Art Direction by: Peter Andrus
Music by: Graeme Revell
Distributed by: Fine Line Features (United States), Bac Films (France)
Release Date: September 12, 2001 (France), April 12, 2002 (United States)
MPAA Rating: R for sexuality/nudity and language.
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