THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510140047
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
LET ME tell you, pilgrims, it ain't Hawthorne.
And yet the laughable new version of ``The Scarlet Letter'' entertains. The acting, even if all of it is to the wrong purpose, is not bad.
The snickering started a year ago when the news leaked that Demi Moore was going to play Nathaniel Hawthrone's heroine Hester Prynne, the woman whose sin became obvious when she bore a child out of wedlock in the puritanical New England of the 17th century. Moore just didn't seem Puritan material. She's more famous for appearing nude on the cover of Vanity Fair and for her next movie, which is to be called ``Striptease.''
Clearly, though, what Demi wants, Demi can currently get - and she wanted, for some reason, to play Hester Prynne.
The first chuckle of the evening comes when the credits reveal that this is ``loosely based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel.'' Very loosely. With all the passion, witchcraft, violent Indian attacks and such, school trips are not encouraged. Those who think they can cheat a little by going to the movie and not reading the book are in for a surprise. They'll get caught.
It's well known, by now, that the ending has been changed. This time, it's the Indians to the rescue - and a happy ending.
The second big laugh is the language.
He says, ``God help me, Hester, I love thee!'' She says, ``God help me, I love thee, too!'' After a big juicy kiss, she says: ``Nay! We could be hanged for this.''
Perhaps they should be, but her only punishment is being branded with the scarlet letter ``A'' to proclaim her adultery.
Looking pert and well-scrubbed as Hester, Demi arrives from the Old World carrying, among other things, a tub. ``She must be French,'' one of the proper Boston folks observes at the idea of owning such a thing.
Where there's a tub, though, there must be a bath, especially if Demi is around. There are several nude scenes, proving that the Puritans, after all, did have bodies.
Gary Oldman, who plays the pained Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, skinny-dips in the local pond. His bare rear is spied by Hester as she's tromping through the forest with a garland of flowers in her head.
The puzzling thing is that director Roland Joffe was so serious-minded with things like ``The Killing Fields'' and even the dullish ``The Mission.'' Here, he seems intent upon making ``The Scarlet Letter'' ``relevant'' to the '90s.
The strange thing about Joffe's version is that it comes across with some real passion - even if it isn't Hawthorne's passion and has nothing to do with redemption. These lovers put up a good fight but, to them, temptation is to be met with surrender. If you can forget the book altogether, which obviously the film makers did, this isn't a dull little morality play. The theme of redemption and punishment, all-important to the book, is gone altogether, but the actors work unexpectedly hard and come across with their own version.
Demi looks too well-scrubbed, but she handles the language and the emotions well. He throaty, deep voice works well. The woman may have more nerve than talent - but she goes for it. Oldman turns in a refreshingly restrained performance as the hurting reverend. For once, he doesn't insist on reminding us that he's acting.
Robert Duvall, with a hangdog look that suggests he's embarassed about the whole thing, plays Hester's strange husband, Roger Chillingworth. He returns, seemingly from the dead, when the Indians cast him out because he's too crazy for them. (He dances around the campfire with a dead deer on his head.)
Joan Plowright, Lord Laurence Oliver's widow, shows up, once again, to add some style and pick up the paycheck. She has a deliciously mischievous air that lets you know she knows what's going on here. She almost winks at the camera. She plays a broad-minded free-thinker who befriends the hapless Hester.
Thinking that there's no need that they both suffer, Hester persuades the reverend to keep his mouth shut about fathering the baby.
Hester's free-thinking ways result in what might be the first women's lib group in the New World - perhaps a reflection of Moore's own modern philosophy, which seems to be rather simple: Go naked in the world.
The child, so important to the novel, has been made a supporting character who is barely there.
Still, the movie has a grand look - filmed in Nova Scotia and packed with all the costumes and rough-hewn lumber that money can buy.
The acting is much better than you'd expect, and the production values are eye-filling.
If it's not the novel, then there's not much purpose in flailing the air about it. Thee knows the score. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``The Scarlet Letter''
Cast: Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, Robert Duval, Joan Plowright,
Robert Prosky, Roy Dotrice
Director: Roland Joffe
Screenplay: Douglas Day Stewart
MPAA rating: R (nudity, violence)
Mal's rating: Two stars
Locations: Movies 10 and Greenbrier 13 in Chesapeake; Circle 4
in Norfolk; Commodore in Portsmouth; Lynnhaven 8, Pembroke and
Surf-n-Sand in Virginia Beach.
by CNB