The Scarlet Letter Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

The Scarlet Letter Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf January 13, 2019

While it seems like such a distant memory in 2019, there was a time in Hollywood when Demi Moore was the biggest actress around. She scored hits with “Indecent Proposal,” “A Few Good Men,” and “Disclosure,” showcasing her ability to portray power onscreen with natural authority, and she rode such industry interests into major paydays with empowered characters found in “G.I. Jane” and “Striptease,” but box office returns didn’t follow her career explosion, and somewhere in the middle of all the press coverage and numerous film releases (including six credited parts in 1996), there was “The Scarlet Letter.” Putting her faith into the creative instincts of director Roland Joffe, Moore set out to play the iconic character of Hester Prynne, the center figure of Puritan disturbance in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s celebrated 1850 novel. She was trying to expand her range, offered a rare shot at a costume drama part, and while Moore strives to put in her best effort, she’s often restrained by Joffe’s bizarre creative choices, which turns a tale of moral and social decay and mob rule into a Harlequin romance novel, with screenwriter Douglas Day Stewart (“The Boy in the Plastic Bubble,” “The Blue Lagoon”) electing to expand on Hawthorne’s ideas instead of strictly adapt them.

The year is 1667, and Hester (Demi Moore) has arrived in Massachusetts ready to begin a new life without the aid of her husband, Roger (Robert Duvall), who’s away, due to follow her at a later date. A single woman preparing to create a homestead for her family, Hester is marked as a woman of scandalous ways by the Puritan community, but her individuality is prized by Reverend Arthur (Gary Oldman), a single man of religion who’s wowed by Hester’s love of literature and her obvious beauty. Time spent together creates attraction, and such lust leads to love, with Arthur and Hester embarking on a secret affair, trying to keep their feelings out of view. However, a pregnancy shatters the dream, with Hester refusing to reveal the father of Pearl, her baby, while town leaders mark her with a red A on her chest, forced to remind the community of her sin while Arthur is consumed by guilt and Roger, who was considered dead after his involvement in a Native American attack, returns in secret.

“The Scarlet Letter” certainly doesn’t have to stay glued to Hawthorne’s original novel, and early scenes make a game attempt to expand the scope of the story, giving the Native America presence more time to marinate in the feature, finding Arthur trying to build a bridge between the settlers and the indigenous people, failing to grasp a great understanding of war coming for the Englishmen. However, for every passable idea, there are two duds, including narration from a future Pearl, who’s recounting the story of Hester and Arthur without participating in most of it, finding the voiceover employed to cover many gaps in the editing. Perhaps the first sign of distress in “The Scarlet Letter” is Stewart’s credit, which lists him as crafting a “freely adapted” version of the material, establishing a cinematic license to head in any direction as he works with Joffe to transform Hester’s fight for survival into a study of female independence in a cold, wrathful world of powerful men.

Ideas are scattered all over “The Scarlet Letter,” but few are developed in full. Joffe is fond of sin, using the symbol of a red cardinal to represent the spirit of passion, with the bird leading Hester to Arthur in the woods, catching him during bath time in a creek. The cardinal also appears during their first sexual encounter, which inspires Hester’s slave, Mituba (Lisa Andoh), to experience her own physical energy. Joffe embraces self- exploration from female characters, but he’s also bound to punishment, feeling the edges of camp as he generates a community rejection of Hester, who’s cut by rumor from catty wives and marked for destruction by the patriarchy, who can’t break her with simple imprisonment. Performances are extremely broad, but so is the filmmaking, as the helmer isn’t quite sure how big he wants the movie to be, struggling with themes and bodice-ripping feelings, but also attentive to violence, with Roger’s return in the second half of the feature triggering cold-blooded acts of revenge and child endangerment. Duvall is perhaps the worst member of the ensemble, refusing to exit his own orbit in a weirdly indicative performance that doesn’t connect with Joffe’s pass at a melodramatic tone.

The Scarlet Letter Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Making its Blu-ray debut, "The Scarlet Letter" hasn't been refreshed for 2019 viewing pleasures, with Kino Lorber offering an older scan of the feature. All is not lost in the AVC encoded image (2.34:1 aspect ratio) presentation, which provides a softer image but detail remains, surveyed on fibrous period costuming and woodsy interiors, which maintain decoration and design. Forest encounters also keep some feel for depth, and skin surfaces are adequate without being truly porous. Colors show some fatigue, with amber lightning slipping into reddishness at times. Skintones are somewhat bloodless but pass for natural. Clothing maintains drab Puritan wear, while Native outfits carry more powerful hues. Greenery is acceptable as lush forests are traversed. Delineation threatens solidification during some evening activity, but largely remains accessible. Source is without major elements of damage.

The Scarlet Letter Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix is generally carried by John Barry's scoring efforts, which support the mood of the feature with distinct instrumentation and fullness, creating a semi-circular event as music carries into the surrounds. Dialogue is distinct, capturing vitriolic performances without distortion, and whispered professions of love and doubt are just as stable. Atmospherics offer a basic arrangement of township activity and forest movement, helping to sell the details of the time and place. A brief moment of damage is detected with the company banners before the main titles.

The Scarlet Letter Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director Roland Joffe, and it seems he's been waiting for decades to have his say about "The Scarlet Letter." The helmer doesn't back down when it comes to his love for the work, expressing pride in the adaptation, which he details as an attempt to create a type of feminist journey for Hester, routinely implying the movie was ahead of its time. Joffe starts out strong with interpretational analysis and modest technical investigation, but soon fatigues, with silence between comments growing longer, while play-by-play becomes a crutch. Joffe uses the track to address the critical slaughter of the picture, suggesting male writers weren't enlightened enough to appreciate what he was doing, and the filmmaker proudly states his version of the tale does what Nathaniel Hawthorne couldn't, showcasing extraordinary confidence or dangerous ego -- you make the call. However strange the commentary is at times, Joffe doesn't register as bitter, and his thoughts do clarify why "The Scarlet Letter" was brought to Blu-ray, with the distributor likely out to catch some post-"Handmaid's Tale" attention, offering the 1995 endeavor up for reevaluation.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (3:16, SD) is included.

The Scarlet Letter Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are highlights in "The Scarlet Letter," including gorgeous cinematography by Alex Thomson, who turns the fractured nature of the production into painterly images. And composer John Barry refuses to pay attention to Joffe's tonal extremes, preferring to offer honeyed music that instantly creates emotion even when the material has little interest in such sensorial engagement. There's Moore and Oldman as well, truly giving what they can to the production, fighting uphill with a screenplay that never knows what it wants, hitting highlights of Hawthorne's book instead of creating a smooth narrative of community disruption and closeted passions. Dips into witchcraft and war (not to mention a reimagined ending) only distract the picture, which needs all the focus it can get. "The Scarlet Letter" strives to be about something, but doesn't end up much of anything, too wrapped up in the possibility of creative alteration instead of thinking long and hard about the results of such expansion and tinkering.