Review of The Scarlet Letter (1995) by David A — 23 Nov 2009

(from The Watermark 10/13/95).

THE SCARLET LETTER (Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, Robert Duvall): Moore plays the most famously impure of all Puritans, Hester Prynne, sentenced to wear a red ?A? on her breast so all can see she is an adultress. ?Freely adapted? from Nathaniel Hawthorne?s hundred-year-old novel, it is fascinating to see how accessible and pertinent the material still remains today. Best of all, this film adaptation remains thematically faithful to the original even in spite of its 'slightly' altered ending. Moore actually turns in a decent performance, although her English accent is a little shaky. (I wonder how Emma Thompson or Helena Bonham-Carter would have been in the role...) Duvall?s character, the long lost husband, has been made creepier - and it works well. The real emotional anchor of the film, however, is Oldman in the role of Dimmesdale, the lover. Torn between love, religion, and honor, Oldman covers all of these bases to utter perfection; his is definitely an Oscar-worthy performance. My only complaint: the pacing drags at points - I find that most movies that run over two hours seldom need to.

QUEER QUOTIENT: Full frontal nudity! Full frontal male nudity! Oldman shows off his pleasant physique while out for a swim in the bay. Too bad the Atlantic waters were apparently running so cold at the time.

POST-REVIEW 11/23/2009: I know this film is reviled as one of the worst adaptations ever... and I haven't seen it in years... but I still recall liking it a lot more than I planned to.