CREDIT: FINE LINE FEATURES
Human Nature is an interesting film, which explores the unrealistic societal expectations put on individuals.

The 2001 film Human Nature is a collaboration between screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Michal Gondry, both heavyweights in the modern independent/art film world, who later worked together on the critically acclaimed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in 2004. Human Nature is a wonderfully quirky, surreal and emotionally charged sex-comedy drama, though it doesn’t impress quite like the more accomplished works of either creator.

Lila is a woman who is burdened with growing too much body hair too fast; as a child her mother told her that because of this men won’t be interested in her. As an adult Lila isolates herself from society and lives in the woods and eventually becomes a successful nature writer. By the time she is 30 she decides to become “a hairless lie” and returns to society out of sexual frustration, taking up a lengthy process of surgical hair removal by a woman who sets her up with Nathan, a 35-yearold virgin psychologist and a huge fan of Lila’s writing. On a date with Lila, Nathan admits that his passion/ current professional pursuit is to teach table manners to mice. Nathan’s lab is absurd; mice literally sit at a table and eat with a fork and knife. It’s uncomfortably realistic.

Nathan and Lila go on a hike together where they discover a man who had been raised in the woods by someone who believed he/she was a chimp. Nathan convinces Lila to let him use the man as a subject in his lab, where he teaches him manners and proper human behaviour. Nathan and his attractive female assistant Gabrielle keep him in a cage and discipline him with electrocution. Gabrielle aggressively attempts to seduce Nathan, flirting with him, asking him out and calling his house. Nathan walks in on Lila shaving while on the phone with Gabrielle, who hears his reaction: he compares her to an ape and says he is disgusted. Gabrielle uses this to her advantage and Nathan finally begins an affair with her.

Human Nature illustrates the importance of honesty and communication in relationships and paints a vivid picture of the reality of broken relationships. Nathan stays with Lila even though he doesn’t truly accept her for who she really is. The two bond over having “peculiarities” in the beginning of the film; Nathan professes that he doesn’t care about Lila’s “peculiarities” but then immediately asks what kind. Lila keeps her body hair a secret. They stay in their unhealthy relationship because Nathan feels guilty for his discomfort with Lila’s problem and is incapable of addressing it and Lila believes that no one else would ever accept her.

On the surface, the film uses sex as a driving force for comedy and drama, though there are more significant underlying themes being explored, such as the destructive power of unrealistic expectations about sex. Lila’s insecurities lay in her perceived inability to attract a mate, and so do Nathan’s, with his “extremely small penis of which he is mortifyingly ashamed”. Other themes include self awareness, self acceptance, reconnecting with nature, oppressive societal expectations and the instinctual forces that compel us to conform to them.

The progression of the film is clever and calculated in a way that makes it entertaining the entire time. The character’s psychological profiles are so unconventional that there is never a boring moment when establishing the characters.

Human Nature is also quite unpredictable. There is a musical sequence when Lila strolls through nature and sings about her joy and freedom. It kind of comes out of nowhere and it made me wonder if there would be more musical sequences but there never were.

With Human Nature, Charlie Kaufman exercised his undeniable grasp on how stories work and how to maintain attention, while Michel Gondry established a distinct directorial style with signature surreal animation techniques, organic framing and colouration. The result is a highly adventurous, visually appealing and perfectly cast film. It should be a flawless affair, but unfortunately the emotional drama is often heavier than the humour is funny and things can sometimes feel a bit chaotic and unfocused.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who is in the mood for something unusual, but I feel Kaufman and Gondry are perhaps best appreciated by their more accomplished works, with Human Nature being the interesting companion.