Pitiful loose interpretation of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel of adultery and its implications.
Demi Moore portrays Hester Prynne. The movie opens as she arrives in the New World to
purchase a house and prepare for her husband's arrival. She meets the young and inspirational
priest, Reverend Dimmesdale, and with whom, once learning that her husband's ship has been lost,
she begins to have a passionate affair. However, her husband Roger (Robert Duvall), did not
die, and covertly arrives at the settlement. Unfortunately for Hester, her union with Dimmesdale
produces a small child, Pearl, and she is branded as an adulteress in front of the entire
village. And then the strange stuff starts...apparently the producers didn't think that Hawthorne's
novel was complete, so they added witch trials, Indian raids, feministic ideals, and a
politically correct happy ending. These useless and pitiful additions might have been
tolerable if they were done well...but the whole product seems so crude and ham fisted
that you wonder why they didn't just leave good enough alone. The costumes and scenery
are well done, yet Moore's acting as well as the screenplay are so obviously contemporary
that they destroy any illusion of time and place. The entire movie is simply a waste.
Reader Comments: Click here to add a comment.
-
-
- 
- 