The Handmaid's Tale (film)

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The Handmaid's Tale

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Volker Schlöndorff
Produced by Daniel Wilson
Written by Novel:
Margaret Atwood
Screenplay:
Harold Pinter
Starring Natasha Richardson
Faye Dunaway
Robert Duvall
Aidan Quinn
Elizabeth McGovern
Music by Ryuichi Sakamoto
Cinematography Igor Luther
Editing by David Ray
Distributed by Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Release date(s) February 15, 1990
Running time 109 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget N/A
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Handmaid's Tale is a 1990 film adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale (novel, Margaret Atwood), directed by Volker Schlöndorff. It starred Natasha Richardson (Kate/Offred), Faye Dunaway (Serena Joy), Robert Duvall (The Commander, Fred), Aidan Quinn (Nick), and Elizabeth McGovern (Moira). The screenplay was written by Harold Pinter. The original music score was composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto. MGM Home Entertainment released an Avant-Garde Cinema DVD of the film in 2001.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

In the near future, as war rages across the fictional Republic of Gilead and pollution has rendered 99 percent of the female population sterile, Kate (Offred in the novel, in which her real name is not specified), sees her husband killed and her daughter kidnapped while trying to escape across the border to Canada. Kate herself is transformed into a Handmaid — a concubine for one of the privileged but barren couples who run the country's fundamentalist regime. Although she resists being indoctrinated into the bizarre cult of the Handmaids which mixes the Old Testament orthodoxy and misogynist cant with 12-step gospel and ritualized violence, Kate soon finds herself in the home of the Commander and his frosty wife, Serena Joy.

Forced to lie between Serena Joy's legs and be sexually penetrated impersonally each month by the Commander, Kate longs for her vanished earlier life; she soon learns that since many of the nation's powerful men are as sterile as their wives, she will have to risk the punishment for fornication — death by hanging — in order to sleep with another man who can provide her with the pregnancy that has become her sole raison d'être. The other man turns out to be Nick, the Commander's sympathetic driver. Kate grows attached to him — and eventually pregnant with his child. Only the affiliation of her fellow handmaid, Ofglen, seems to offer any chance of giving her unborn child a life of freedom — or finding the daughter she already lost.

[edit] Differences between Novel and Film

In the book, the Handmaids wear loose-fitting garments that obscure all of their body and allow them no peripheral vision, whereas in the film, the Handmaids wear knee-length red dresses and not as much head covering. The producers explain that this change was a result of the small budget they were working with. The Handmaid dresses were off-the-rack dresses ordered from Sears. While the novel was a bestseller, there was not much interest from Hollywood to make a film, and the budget was low. Despite the apparent appeal of a meaty role such as that of playing Offred, mainstream actresses showed no interest in starring in the film, due to Offred's passivity, so a much lower profile actress was chosen for the lead. [1]

  • Book: Offred's name: unknown (only suggested to be "June" at the end of the first chapter)
  • Film: Offred's name: Kate
  • Book: Pregnant handmaid enters the shop the two handmaids are in and the pregnant handmaid is admired by everybody.
  • Film: Pregnant woman enters a car in front of the shop and is applauded.
  • Film: Offred actively helps Moira to flee
  • Film: Offred wants to flee/escape together with Nick - Offred is going to bear a child for Nick
  • Film: Commander wants Offred to commit suicide when Serena Joy finds out that the Commander has been seeing Offred in private. Offred kills the Commander by using a knife. She received it from the underground organization; Nick is a member of the underground organization and Offred receives a letter from Nick from time to time
  • Book: Nick stays to help the underground organization
  • Film: They flee pretending they are caught by the Angels/Guards
  • Book: Open ending
  • Film: The movie ends showing Offred away and lonely in the mountains. She is pregnant.

[edit] Filming locations

The scene where the hanging took place was filmed in front of Duke Chapel on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Johnson, Brian D. Uphill Battle: Handmaid's Hard Times. MacLean's. Canada: 1990 Feb 26.

[edit] External links

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