Jada Pinkett Smith has been in the entertainment industry for decades, making her start as an actress in the ’90s. She had a history of directing music videos, both for her husband, Will Smith, and others, but she had never directed a larger project until her feature debut in 2008 with the erotic drama The Human Contract, which she also wrote.
The film centers on a Los Angeles businessman named Julian Wright, played by Jason Clarke, known for his roles in Oppenheimer, Mudbound, and Zero Dark Thirty. The character is going through a divorce and struggling under the pressure of his work and dysfunctional family. He meets and quickly becomes enraptured by a woman named Michael (Paz Vega). The two are pulled into a dark relationship that spans the emotional and physical.
Both of these characters are obviously broken people; Julian has an overt anger problem, with a habit of punching both mirrors and people. He has an overly religious mother with whom he has a strained relationship (the impetus of which is explained at the end of the movie) and a beloved sister who is being abused by her husband. Michael, for her part, has a history of self-harm, though, besides a brief anecdote about her mother, her history doesn’t get fleshed out. She’s also in an open marriage, which Julian is none too excited to learn after he’s already fallen for her.
‘The Human Contract’ is Full of Big Names
The Human Contract
Release Date
September 12, 2008
Runtime
107 minutes
Producers
Will Smith, Mike Jackson, Miguel Melendez
While Jason Clarke and Paz Vega lead the film, the overall cast is full of respected names in the industry. Ted Danson plays Julian’s boss, E.J. Winters, who puts pressure on him to uphold virtuous family values in order to facilitate a billion-dollar business merger, which proves to be extremely difficult. Idris Elba stars as his friend and attorney Larry, whose frustration over continuously having to clean up Julian’s messes comes to a boiling point. Julian’s overly critical and manipulative mom, Rose, is played by Joanna Cassidy, and Jada Pinkett Smith casts herself as his abused sister, Rita — though it doesn’t come close to being one of her best performances. With so many talented people filling up the roster, one would expect The Human Contract to be a knockout, but that wasn’t the case.
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While the performances were good enough and Pinkett Smith was praised for her well-crafted film, which boasted excellent cinematography and visuals reminiscent of the neo-noir movie Collateral that she starred in, it was ultimately the story — or lack thereof — where the project fell flat. After reaching the end of the movie, viewers are left wondering exactly what the point of it all was. The characters read as one-dimensional, with little more to their personalities than a burning desire for sex and violence.
No Plot Points Get Resolved
Julian finally admits to some of his issues after he hits Michael, resulting in her significantly harming herself and being left hospitalized. Before agreeing with Michael’s husband’s plea to leave her alone forever, Julian apologizes to her. However, his repentance comes in the form of a symbolic gesture — giving Michael the security combination to his ultra-secret darkroom, which she repeatedly told him represented his fear of opening up. Michael doesn’t speak throughout the entire exchange and Julian leaves her a letter waxing poetic about how his photographs reveal his “shame,” “loss,” and “lies.” What is likely supposed to be some kind of closure to their torrid love affair feels more like an abusive partner placating their victim.
Rita’s story as a victim of domestic violence, which acts as a sort of catalyst for her brother’s anger problems, is equally unresolved. Julian’s love for his sister and rage toward her husband come out so fiercely that he beats the man into a coma. However, his self-righteous anger becomes questionable the second he lands a hand on Michael, rendering his only redeemable quality effectively moot.
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Geena (Erin Moriarty) fears her controlling husband’s (Jai Courtney) reaction when another couple moves to their land.
Unsurprisingly, The Human Contract posits that all of Julian’s issues are a result of his “mommy issues.” His relationship with Rose, whose history is the biggest mystery of the whole movie and eventually revealed in an unsatisfying flashback, is full of contempt, barely hidden by a veil of apathy. At the end of the film, Julian confronts his mom about his childhood trauma, revealing to the audience that he had to pull her out of an oven during an attempted suicide when he was a boy. He chastises her for making him lie to the police, and decades of built-up resentment comes spilling out across the dinner table.
Rather than dealing with their complicated past, the conversation results in Julian bitterly screaming in his mom’s face as she beats on him with her fists, criticizing him for not letting her die. While the interaction seems like it should be some kind of cathartic relief that will finally let Julian move on with his life, nothing about the exchange is healthy or suggests he and Rose can repair what’s been broken.
‘The Human Contract’ Was a Well-Made, Well-Acted Disaster
Overbrook Entertainment
Nothing about The Human Contract feels resolved by the closing credits, and viewers are left with one overwhelming question. What is the point? While obviously meant to be more than a slice-of-life story, the movie doesn’t fully flesh out its main storyline, let alone its subplots; the characters are underdeveloped, the relationships one-dimensional, and the entire purpose of the project is missing in action. The Human Contract ends up more as a meditative take on “hurt people hurt people,” with gratuitous brutality thrown in to darken the tone. Unfortunately, not even the talented cast or the crisp camera work was enough to save this naked mess of a movie.
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