Review of The Scarlet Letter (1995) by Charles P — 18 Aug 2013

The Scarlet Letter killed Roland Joffe's career and I needed to find out why, and I was willing to sit through it to find out as well as to witness one brief sequence where Demi Moore's breasts are exposed, and I will never get tired of seeing them. And since I've never read The Scarlet Letter novel I won't be disappointed by the fact that it deviates from the source novel.

The Scarlet Letter's first qualities to hit me were the lush production design and fine cinematography that we witnessed in Roland Joffe's excellent earlier piece The Mission. Also, the production design was lavish and looked exquisitely sophisticated along with its classically atmospheric costumes, and it all blended with the beautiful musical score. The Scarlet Letter has itself set up really well. Plus, it's filmed on beautiful locations. So The Scarlet Letter sets itself up to be a technical achievement really fast, and consistently succeeds.

And once Demi Moore's enters the screen, it becomes apparent she has worked hard on voice articulation to ensure a convincing English accent which is never overdone, and its very well done. We soon witness her portraying the iconic character Hester Prynne in a manner which conveys her innocence and fragility in a society averse to her way of life, and really she gives it her all in a fine performance which is sweet and comes with a soothing smile, and an unfathomed body with such physical beauty that it embodies the physicality of the character Hester Prynne is told to be, and she mixes her character's stoic nature and passion together well.

She also shares a fine chemistry with co-star Gary Oldman, who captures the artistic passion of his character with grace and civility, and he really embodies his character's strength for the part.

I honestly can't say I expected to like The Scarlet Letter, but its hard hitting drama and themes of being a struggling woman in a chauvinistic religious society were strong. The atmosphere was excellent, and although he apparently deviated too far from the source novel, I enjoyed the direction Roland Joffe gave to The Scarlet Letter because he made it work as a standalone piece, particularly because of his handling of what themes have been left in this "free adaptation", application of symbolism and articulation of the atmosphere which makes The Scarlet Letter a passionate piece.

But the pacing of the story changed immediately once Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale says "God help me, I love thee" because the characters haven't developed enough or built a fine enough chemistry just yet to convey such a convincing love for each other, and whether this actually happened in the source novel or is just a mistake that occurred amongst Roland Joffe's adaptation, either way its unimpressive.

Plus, at some key moments in The Scarlet Letter the poor quality slow motion effect is used to excessive and becomes the primary downfall of the film's visual quality.

Also, Roland Joffe fails to emphasise the importance behind the title of The Scarlet Letting and hat it means, and it leaves the viewer's imagination to figure it out.

Nevertheless, I found that The Scarlet Letter was a compelling, good looking and well acted film which I found featured characters I could connect with even as it charters through dynamics that have been half assed in their adaptations.