COLEMAN Silk (Hopkins) is a professor of classics at prestigious Athena College, where he is revered by students and staff alike.

During a lecture, he makes an innocuous comment about two absent students which is misconstrued as a racist remark.

The faculty overreacts to the students' subsequent complaint and Coleman resigns his position, disgusted by his shabby treatment at the hands of his supposed colleagues.

His rage is fuelled by a deep, dark secret: Coleman isn't Jewish as all his friends believe. He is African-American.

As a young man, he was light-skinned and therefore able to pass himself off as white. Choosing to follow that path, Coleman (played in flashback by Miller), turned his back on his adoring mother and began dating the girl of his dreams (Barrett).

Meanwhile, back in the present, Coleman begins a passionate affair with Faunia Farley (Kidman), a high school janitor whose ex-husband (Ed Harris) reacts violently to another man making advances to his woman.

Past and present collide with tragic consequences and Coleman seeks absolution by agreeing to tell his side of the story to reclusive author Nathan Zuckerman (Sinise).

Based on Philip Roth's novel of the same name, The Human Stain is a fascinating study of identity and self-sacrifice, which is ultimately let down by the miscasting of the two leads.

On their own, Hopkins and Kidman are both extremely watchable.

He brings an undeniable charisma to his bombastic scholar who is haunted by the past, and she invests her seductive working class waif with a painful vulnerability.

However, as a couple, Hopkins and Kidman simply do not spark. There is no sexual chemistry and their relationship seems more like father and daughter than lovers.

In stark contrast, Miller and Barrett bring a smouldering passion to their affair, tinged with great sadness as the truth of Coleman's deception gradually tears them apart.

Director Robert Benton allows the plot to unfurl at a pedestrian pace, too slowly at times, while cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier paints every frame like a chocolate box tableau.

The opening sequence of Coleman and Faunia driving through snow-laden back roads is especially haunting, underscored with Rachel Portman's melancholic orchestral score.

The Human Stain is a film of ravishing beauty but frequently hollow emotion.

Rating: 5/10

DAMON SMITH