The Scarlet Letter (DVD)

...on Nathaniel Hawthorne's novels of the same name. Set in Puritan New England, it follows the life of hester Prynne (Demi Moore) a young married woman with an illegitimate child. It is a vastly different piece from the original novel, largely due to the differences between our culture's and Hawthorne's.

Hawtrhorne wrote his novel for a largely puritan audience, with strong moral values. A woman who commits adultery ould be almost as ...
...by the people of her own time. Hawthorne was widely condemned for being a sensualist and for promoting lax morals with his tale of forbidden love. A modern audience would not relate well to a film that condemned its heroine for a love affair, and so the film is geared for us and our expectations. We think little of adultry these days, and prize love about honour, duty and the such.

Hawthorne's book shows little of the love affair, ... more

"The Scarlet Letter" is based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's novels of the same name. Set in Puritan New England, it follows the life of hester Prynne (Demi Moore) a young married woman with an illegitimate child. It is a vastly different piece from the original novel, largely due to the differences between our culture's and Hawthorne's.

Hawtrhorne wrote his novel for a largely puritan audience, with strong moral values. A woman who commits adultery ould be almost as severy condemned by Hawthorne's peers as she would have been by the people of her own time. Hawthorne was widely condemned for being a sensualist and for promoting lax morals with his tale of forbidden love. A modern audience would not relate well to a film that condemned its heroine for a love affair, and so the film is geared for us and our expectations. We think little of adultry these days, and prize love about honour, duty and the such.

Hawthorne's book shows little of the love affair, but instead focuses on the consequences, as Hester's life becomes increasingly painful, and her lover is wracked with guilt. In the book, a sense of having sinned prevents the lovers from escaping to start a new life. The film however is able to tell a different tale, because a modern audience will not be offended by an adulterous love affair. We see the beautiful Hester arrive in new England ahead of her husband, and fall in love with Dimmersdale, the local vicar (Gary Oldman.) The film then largly follows the book, but again the ending is altered to suit modern tastes. It is sugested in the book that some of the characters might be dabbling with witchraft - a popular fear of the time. the film is able to look a little mroe cloely at this and to pant perhaps a moer realistic picture of wise women and magical dabblings. It is worth reading the book and seeing the film, because the differences say a great deal about cultural changes over the last century or so. The path of true love does not run smoothly, for Hester's husband arrives, wishing to discover the identity of the man who has cuckolded him and determined to have a cruel revenge.

"The Scarlet letter" is an intensely sensual film, rich with colours and capturing well the feel of Hawthorne's writing - at time it is almost too much, too intoxicating. The acting is superb - Demi Moore is perfect, looking exactly as Hawthorne describes Hester, and carrying off this proud and courageous woman to great effect. Being a fan of Gary Oldman, I enjoyed his role a great deal - he tends normally to play villans and misfits, and seeing him cast as a hadsome and heroic figure made a pelasing change. (he really is very attractive.) Sadly, this film was made durning a particularly bad bout of alcoholism for Oldman, although his acting remains superb.

There are always differences between books and films - encounter one version firtst and the second version will often seem like a let down. These two versions are very ifferent from each other, purist fans of hawthrone may not be at ease with what they encounter. However, if you can approach the flm with an open mind, it is a glorious and overty sensual love story, beautiffuly acted, and with enough action to maintain the interest of a modern audience. 

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