The Scarlet Letter (1995)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

How sad is this?

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is one of the worst major-studio literary adaptations ever, and I've given it a 1 rating because it deserves to be in the IMDb bottom 100--though in terms of (unintentionally hilarious) entertainment value I'd give it a 6. Maybe even an 8. I'm no huge fan of Hawthorne--his novels are pretty dry, dull and moralistic, like much pre-20th-century American lit--but his whole story is outrageously skewed here to suit Demi Moore's ego. She was at the top of her stardom then. This, "G.I. Jane" and "Striptease" pretty much destroyed that status--and all because each of them was wrecked by the need to flatter her so much. She needs to be the toughest yet most sensitive, sexiest yet most spiritual, etc. etc. person on screen--which would be OK if she were playing an action heroine or female superhero, but was disastrous for these particular stories. "G.I. Jane" could have been a gritty look at women's military life, "Striptease" has considerable sequences--all without Demi--where it's a very funny retro screwball comedy. But her humorless image-sculpting ruined both. Then there's "Scarlet Letter." Whoa. Roland Joffe is not a good director (despite having gotten praise for the fairly good "Killing Fields" and overrated "The Mission"--since then it's been all downhill). But the problem here is clearly that Demi wants to reshape Hester Prynne from Puritan victim of Puritanism into a hot ass-kicking, erotically supercharged mama who connects as a kindred soul with local Native Americans and hosts a sort of women's consciousness-raising/sewing group. In colonial New England. Uh-huh. I kinda love this movie--it's so slick yet incredibly wrongheaded, encouraging possibly the worst performances ever by some very good actors (Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall for starters), that it's frequently hilarious. It's one of those rare crazy monuments to a star's ego--at the expense of any fidelity or credibility--that results in an instant camp classic.

Review: This movie was a beautiful movie. I can't tell you how happy this movie made me. It was a love story beyond anything I could have ever asked for! There is a disclaimer…there is male and female nudity, and extreme gore, so this is not a family movie. Though there was some extreme gore for a movie like this…I was happy with it. I did close my eyes during the fighting scenes, because there were some over the top nasty scenes…but the fight scenes only lasted a few minutes, and wasn't a huge part of the story. The story was about a married woman in the 1600's who moved to America to build a new life with her husband…though her husband decided to stay behind in London and send her there alone, almost like he was trying to test her.After settling in, she begins to have feelings for another man in her husband's absence…but this man also is the minister of the town where they live. They both avoid each other, knowing that they both have strong feelings for the other, and if they were to do anything about it, they would both be hanged. They then get news that her husband's ship was attached by Indians, and no one was found alive…so they begin their love affair. She then becomes pregnant with what the town calls a "bastard" child…not knowing that it was their minister's child. He offers to give himself up in order for her to not be punished, but she forbids him to do so, because she loves him too much to see him hang for their love. She is put into prison until she has the child, and then is forced to wear a red "A" on her clothes everywhere she goes. Shortly after her release, she finds out her husband was not killed by the Indians, but captured, and returns home under an alias…only because he doesn't want the town to punish his wife…he wants to punish her by killing her lover. Still, no one knows that her lover is the minister…but her husband begins to investigate everyone, and soon suspects that her lover is the minister.I could seriously go on and on, and give you the climatic ending of the movie…but I won't…because you NEED to see this movie if you haven't. It was a brilliant work of art in the form of a movie. Demi Moore was charming and graceful as Hester, and Gary Oldman was almost a knight and shining armor as Minister Arthur. They did change up the story of the book…but this movie was just beautifully done. I will watch this movie again…very soon!

I was expecting something awful because of the mockery and disparagement from the critics. I'm so glad I saw it anyway! I am critical and usually hard to please as a movie viewer, and this was a good movie, especially when you compare it to most of the crap being made. I find it hysterical that people are pretending to take such offense that Hawthorne's story wasn't followed to the T. Name one classical story that is followed to the t by Hollywood. Or any book adaptation for that matter. Name one.I think all the mockery is really about the fact that this movie critiqued the early brutal treatment of women in this country's history. This is almost never explored, never exposed. When Hester says, "This isn't about the sin of us women, it's about the sin of you men," that is the sort of line that makes you unpopular with critics. Then they will pretend it's all about the art. There was a lot about the art in this film to appreciate. Oldman's performance was incredible, subtle, believable. Duvall never disappoints, and the abuse of Hester was realistic in its viciousness, even though it only showed the edges. I appreciated most of all that the filmmakers were willing to take on this subject matter. How they adapted it to modern movie viewer tastes, well, maybe they could have done better, but the pressures to make an expensive film commercially successful cannot simply be overlooked. All and all they did a good job. I'm so glad I finally watched it, and didn't let the mocking critics turn me off to it forever.

When I saw adverts for this on sky i decided to investigate it further watch you tube and then record the film and I had expected so much but what i found was a bit of a disappointment. Im not saying the film was bad it was just not as good as I thought. Hester and Arthur meet about four times in the space of a few days and then about a week later they are declaring undying love for each other on a cliff and are prepared to risk their whole life for each other?? It happened to quickly. Once the film got going and it focused on Hesters struggle I found it intriguing but it still was too quick i felt for the main characters to have fallen in love. Gary Oldman was superb although Im not quite sure what accent he was trying to master and Demi Moore was surprisingly good in this role yet the whole thing lacked due to it being too quick. Overall I do not feel I wasted two hours of my life but I did record over the recording.