It is 1667 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and an uneasy truce exists between local Puritans and their neighbors, the Algonquian. Chief Metacomet succeeds his father Massasoit as head of the latter just as a new colonist, Hester Prynne arrives overseas from England. As Hester waits for her husband—who is due to follow shortly after—she falls for a young minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. When it emerges that Roger Prynne has likely been killed by Native Americans, they become inseparable lovers. Finding herself pregnant with Dimmesdale's child, Hester is imprisoned for her indiscretion. The minister intends to declare his sin and face execution, but Hester convinces him otherwise. Sentenced to wear a scarlet "A" for adultery, Prynne is ostracized by the public, and a drummer boy is charged to follow her whenever she comes to town. Meanwhile, Hester's husband resurfaces, having spent his absence in captivity as a prisoner of war. Learning of the scandal, he adopts the fictitious guise of "Dr. Roger Chillingworth" and begins seeking out her paramour. The physician eventually murders a male settler leaving Hester's home and scalps him in an effort to implicate Algonquian warriors. Infuriated by this atrocity, the colonists declare war on the Indians and Roger, distraught by the severe consequences of his action, promptly commits suicide. Hester is nearly hanged with other undesirables in the ensuing outrage, but Dimmesdale saves her neck by confessing that he is the father of her child. As he takes her place on the gallows, the Algonquian attack Massachusetts Bay; both sides sustain heavy casualties. The Puritans are more concerned with concealing the conflict from England than harassing Hester any further; she finally abandons her scarlet letter and departs with Dimmesdale for Carolina.
Cast
Demi Moore as Hester Prynne
Gary Oldman as Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale
Robert Duvall as Roger Prynne/ Roger Chillingworth
The film was shot in British Columbia on Vancouver Island, in and around Campbell River, and in the Nova Scotia towns of Yarmouth, Shelburne, and in the small village of Saint Alphonse in Clare in 1994. In Shelburne, the waterfront area was substantially altered to resemble a PuritanNew England town in the mid-17th century. Some of the buildings on Dock Street retain the grey-tone paint finishes used for the film.
Score
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.
Reception
The Scarlet Letter was thoroughly panned by critics. Based on 38 reviews collected by aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 13% approval rating, with an average score of 3/10. The critical consensus reads, "The Scarlet Letter strays far from its classic source material to tell a story that strains for steamy sensuality and leaves the audience red with unintentional laughter." In Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman referred to a "clunky, dawdlingly literal-minded Scarlet Letter, a movie that doesn't so much adapt the book as give it an expensive makeover." Kevin Williamson of National Review, in a retrospective appraisal, declared it "the worst film ever made", adding: "With its combination of awfulness and inexplicability, it's the 'MacArthur Park' of cinema." The film won Worst Remake or Sequel at the 1995 Golden Raspberry Awards, receiving further nominations for Worst Actress, Worst Supporting Actor, Worst Screen Couple, Worst Director, Worst Picture, and Worst Screenplay. It grossed $10.3 million against a production budget of $46 million. In response to the criticism, and to the new ending, Moore said that the story the filmmakers were trying to tell differed out of necessity with that of the book, which she said was "very dense and not cinematic". She noted the original story might be better suited to a miniseries on television, and that the story presented in this film needed a different ending, one that did not lose "the ultimate message of Hester Prynne" that its makers were trying to convey. Asked by critic Peter Travers in 2011 to name the few films in his catalogue that he would take to a desert island, Oldman named The Scarlet Letter among his four choices. He conceded Travers's assertion that the film was "hammered" by reviewers, but argued, "There's some good work in there."
