| The Scarlet Letter | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Roland Joffé |
| Produced by | Andrew G. Vajna |
| Screenplay by | Douglas Day Stewart |
| Based on | The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne |
| Starring | Demi Moore Gary Oldman Robert Duvall |
| Music by | John Barry |
| Cinematography | Alex Thomson |
| Editing by | Thom Noble |
| Studio | Cinergi Pictures |
| Distributed by | Hollywood Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 13, 1995 |
| Running time | 135 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $46 million[1] |
| Box office | $10,382,407[1] |
The Scarlet Letter is a 1995 American film adaptation of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel of the same name. It was directed by Roland Joffé and stars Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, and Robert Duvall. This version was "freely adapted" from Hawthorne[2] and deviated from the original story. Universally panned by critics, the film was also a box office bomb. It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards at the 1995 ceremony, winning "Worst Remake or Sequel."
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In the Massachusetts Bay colony in 1667, there is an uneasy truce between Puritans and Algonquian. Metacomet (Eric Schweig) becomes the tribe's new chief after the death and cremation of his father Massasoit. Hester Prynne (Demi Moore) arrives overseas from England, seeking independence. She waits for her husband, befriending Quakers and setting up a home. As time passes, she falls for a young minister, Arthur Dimmesdale (Gary Oldman), who feels the same way about her. When they hear the news that her husband has most likely been killed by Native Americans, they engage in a relationship. When she becomes pregnant, Hester is imprisoned for her indiscretions. Dimmesdale visits Hester in prison, telling her that he would declare himself the father, but Hester begs him not to. Hester tells him that she could not see the man she loved hang, for they did nothing wrong. Hester's daughter is then born in prison, and later publicly humiliated by being forced to wear a scarlet "A" for adultery. A drummer boy is ordered to follow her whenever she comes to town.
On the same day, her husband reappears with Indians, after a year's absence. Going by the name of "Dr. Chillingworth", he stirs fears of witchcraft, while seeking out Hester's lover in order to exact his revenge. As his plans are done, he attacks and scalps a man riding to town from Hester's house, disguised as Indian. Once the villagers discover this cruelty, they blame it on the Indians and bring them all to a public place to judge them. Seeing this scene, Hester's husband understands his fault and its severe results. He hangs himself in his room.
When the minister wants to talk to him, he discovers his dead body hanging from the roof of the room. He runs back to town and offers his throat instead of Hester's, admitting that he is the father of the child. When he is about to be put to death, the Indians save him and Hester, and a battle between them and the villagers starts. The audience sees Hester's little daughter, Pearl, playing with the scarlet letter patch. After visiting Hester's husband's grave, they all leave on a horse-driven buggy. Pearl drops the scarlet "A" on the ground.
Then finally before the end credits, Pearl reveals that her father dies before she becomes a teenager and that Hester never remarried.
The film was shot in British Columbia on Vancouver Island in and around Campbell River BC. (Beaverlodge Lands *now Rockland Road and North Island College/Timberline Secondary*,Lupin Falls and Myra Falls in Strathcona Provincial Park, Little Oyster River, and White River) and in the Nova Scotia towns of Yarmouth and Shelburne in 1994. In Shelburne, the waterfront area was substantially altered to resemble a Puritan New England town in the mid-17th century. Some of the buildings on Dock Street retain the grey-tone paint finishes used for the film.
Three original scores were written for this film. The first score was composed by Ennio Morricone and was quickly rejected. A second score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, but his music was set aside in lieu of the final score, composed by John Barry. Reportedly, star Demi Moore wanted a score by Barry from the start, so Morricone's and Bernstein's music were not going to be accepted, regardless of quality.
Barry's score was released on CD by Sony Records upon the film's release in 1995. A CD of Bernstein's rejected score was released by Varèse Sarabande in 2008. No recordings of Morricone's score have been released to the public.
The film was met with an overwhelmingly negative reception. It was universally panned by critics, with a 15% approval rating on popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.[3] It won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel and was nominated for Worst Actress (Moore), Worst Director, Worst Picture, Worst Screen Couple (Moore and either Duvall or Oldman), Worst Screenplay and Worst Supporting Actor (Duvall).[4] It was also a box office bomb, grossing only $10.3 million out of a $50 million budget.[5]
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