Being Human (1994 film)

Being Human
A man walking along the sea shore
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBill Forsyth
Written byBill Forsyth
Produced byRobert F. Colesberry
David Puttnam
Starring
CinematographyMichael Coulter
Edited byMichael Ellis
Music byMichael Gibbs
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • 6 May 1994 (1994-05-06)
Running time
122 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
Japan
LanguagesEnglish
Gaelic
Friulian
Budget$40 million[1]
Box office$5 million[1]

Being Human is a 1994 comedy-drama film written and directed by Bill Forsyth and starring Robin Williams, John Turturro, Bill Nighy, Vincent D'Onofrio, Robert Carlyle, Theresa Russell and Ewan McGregor in his feature-film debut. An international co-production of the United Kingdom and Japan, 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 to emphasize how slow life often is. The structure is one of vignette-like character studies of one man (actually five distinct men, all with the same soul) who keeps making the same relationships and mistakes throughout his lifetimes.

  1. ^ a b "World's Champs & Chumps". Variety. 13 February 1995. p. 7.