Being Human (1994 film)
| Being Human | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Bill Forsyth |
| Produced by | Robert F. Colesberry David Puttnam |
| Written by | Bill Forsyth |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Theresa Russell |
| Music by | Michael Gibbs |
| Cinematography | Michael Coulter |
| Edited by | Michael Ellis |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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122 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom Japan |
| Language | English Gaelic Friulian |
| Budget | $40,000,000 |
| Box office | $1,519,366 |
Being Human is a 1994 British-Japanese comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Robin Williams, John Turturro, Bill Nighy, Vincent D'Onofrio, Robert Carlyle and Theresa Russell. The film portrays the experience of a single human soul, portrayed by Williams, through various incarnations. Williams is the only common actor throughout the stories that span man's history on Earth.
An attempt on director-screenwriter Bill Forsyth's part to depict by visual means the ordinariness of life throughout the ages, Being Human is deliberately slow in its pace in order to emphasize how slow life often is. The structure is one of vignette-like character studies of one man (actually at least four distinct men, all with the same soul) who keeps making the same relationships and mistakes throughout his lifetimes.
In the first incarnation, which appears to be a caveman, a man's family is taken from him by raiders due to his cowardice and hesitation. Before his wife is taken away, she says, "Don't lose the children!"
The next incarnation is in Ancient Rome in which he, Hector, is a slave to a "foolish master" who loses his fortune and is compelled to kill himself by his creditors and orders Hector to join him. Hector longs to be free to find the children and wife he had before he became a slave, but he has fallen in love with another slave and forgets his waiting family.
Third incarnation: He is a Scottish crusader on his way home to his children. The master from his life in Rome as a slave is now a crusader trying to decide whether to become a priest. They travel together until Hector finds his soul mate from the life in Rome. She is a widow and wishes Hector to join her family, but his duties to the children in Scotland pull at him.
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