Character Relationship Map: Human Nature

Characters

• Nathan Bronfman (played by Tim Robbins) — protagonist

  A psychologist researching table manners for mice. He discovers Puff, conducts conditioning training with Lila and Gabrielle to instill manners, takes Puff on tour, has an affair with Gabrielle, and i...

• Lila Jute (played by Patricia Arquette) — protagonist

  A woman with severe hirsutism who lives in the woods before returning to civilization. She partners with Nathan, helps train Puff, becomes disillusioned with Nathan, takes Puff back to the forest, tur...

• Puff (played by Rhys Ifans) — supporting

  A man raised as a chimpanzee in the wilderness. After being discovered and trained by Nathan and Lila to adopt human manners, he struggles with urges, eventually kills Nathan, testifies before Congres...

• Gabrielle (played by Miranda Otto) — supporting

  Nathan's research assistant who helps train Puff. Though posing as French, she is American. She seduces Nathan, and at the film's end, colludes with Puff to drive him to the city.

• Puff's Father (played by Toby Huss) — supporting
• Nathan's Mother (played by Mary Kay Place) — supporting
• Nathan's Father (played by Robert Forster) — supporting

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Puff's Father → Puff (father)
• Nathan's Father → Nathan Bronfman (father)
• Nathan's Mother → Nathan Bronfman (mother)
• Nathan Bronfman → Gabrielle (Professional Research Supervisor) — Nathan directs Gabrielle within the laboratory research project.

  Gabrielle is described as Nathan's research assistant and helps him train Puff.

• Nathan Bronfman → Lila Jute (Romantic Partner) — Their romantic partnership evolves from intimacy to severe disillusionment.

  Nathan and Lila become partners after meeting in civilization, but their relationship deteriorates during the story.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Gabrielle → Puff (Alliance Training Partner) — She is one of the people who directly reshapes Puff's behavior.

  Gabrielle helps Nathan perform conditioned reinforcement training on Puff.

• Lila Jute → Puff (Alliance Rescuer) — Lila becomes Puff's advocate against Nathan's imposed social conditioning.

  After Puff is trained by Nathan, Lila decides to take him back into the forest and restore his natural state.

• Nathan Bronfman → Puff (Narrative Discoverer) — Nathan's discovery initiates Puff's movement from wilderness into human society.

  Nathan discovers Puff in the woods after Puff falls from a tree branch and is knocked unconscious.

Story Analysis

The film examines whether civilization, manners, and scientific conditioning can overcome or merely disguise human and animal instincts.

Plot Progression

1. Wildness Before Civilization — Lila leaves society to live freely in the woods and writes about that experience. Her return to civilization creates the conditions for her partnership with Nathan.
2. The Wild Man Discovered — Nathan and Lila encounter Puff in the forest and bring him into Nathan's laboratory. Gabrielle joins the effort while her false French identity remains part of the surrounding deception.
3. The Manners Experiment — Nathan, Gabrielle, and Lila condition Puff to display manners and high culture. Puff's continuing urges and secret behavior expose the limits of the experiment.
4. Affair and Escape — Gabrielle's affair with Nathan accelerates the collapse of Nathan and Lila's relationship. Lila responds by taking Puff back into the forest to undo the imposed training.
5. Forest Judgment — Nathan confronts Lila and Puff in the woods, where Puff kills him. Lila claims responsibility, Puff testifies about humanity, and the ending leaves his alliance with Gabrielle deliberately ambiguous.