The basic sin is to not be a real adaptation of Hawthorne novel. inspired by it - yes. but nothing more. the second error is to transform a classic novel in a kind of "ad usum Delphini", in which every nuance of a great and profound drama is lost. the only significant virtue is the fight of Demi Moore and Gary Oldman to save their roles. not with real succes because the script does a so simple and pink story than nothing could change the sense of it. and the only prize is the atmosphere, costumes, and hope than another director will do a better and smart adaptation for a novel who remains one of fundamental books not only for American literature.

I can ensure you that The Scarlet Letter receives too much negative criticism. It's an easy target. I've never read the novel though I wish I did read it so I could better effectively rate the movie, but the book is great so the movie has big shoes to fill. The Scarlet Letter is clearly a fine film. Its direct comparisons to the book is one big reason for all the underratings, another big reason is The Scarlet Letter viewing sells itself as some great movie, with its vivid storytelling, its great acting and strong cinematography, yet it's not quite great. It's hard and difficult to deliver a pure dramatic period piece based on a strong selling novel. The movie may supposed to be sophisticated, elegant drama, but The Scarlet Letter quickly settles into a regular on the surface movie at the time when Authur and Hester meet, not being too artistically poetic, but more commonly driven by its desires. The Scarlet Letter is lost between those two film modes with no seaming connection. Another strong critique is it's missing very intriguing plot points. All this lessens the film, but not all so much. The Scarlet Letter is a passionate romance taking place in a beautiful though turbulent setting. It has a good, deep cast. Demi Moore and Gary Oldman as Hester Prynne and Authur Dimmsdale make The Scarlet Letter good all while their characters engage in forbidden lust. Moore and Oldman offer tour de forces in The Scarlet Letter. Moore is beauty at its finest. I love Demi Moore and Gary Oldman, two my favorite and two of the very best. I quite enjoy their impassioned performances in The Scarlet Letter. It may make the characters themselves slightly exaggerated, but Oldman and Moore do a good job of maintaining it. I wouldn't change it if I could. The Scarlet Letter is a great tragic love story in the form of a good movie. I must say, The Scarlet Letter is really good, and anyone who bashes it as bad is being too harsh. It's a strong 6. The Scarlet Letter is a great stay at home couples date night movie because it's boldly, desperately romantic and you do not have to watch it too closely to follow it as it speaks of pure passion being very passionately compelling.

Nope, this film is NOT an accurate adaptation of "The Scarlet Letter" by any stretch of the imagination. It's more like a modern "Variations on a Theme by Nathaniel Hawthorne," or one of those Fantasias that 19th- century composers used to write with a famous, much-older melody as a starting point.That said, I enjoyed this movie quite a lot. The depiction of late 18th/early 19th century Native American civilization on the Northeastern Seaboard is vividly and richly imagined; don't think I've ever seen this in a film before. Gary Oldman, as a wonderfully sexy and yet perfectly pure young Rev. Dimmesdale, probably would have pleased Hawthorne on the whole, and his chemistry with Demi Moore's obviously anachronistic, but compelling, Hester Prynne is delicious (their scene in the barn is very hot indeed).Finally, something has to be said about the gorgeous John Barry score. What lovely, memorable film music! On the strength of the score alone, I encourage anyone who enjoys romantic stories (and won't be offended by the vast, ridiculous departures from Hawthorne's masterpiece) to give this movie a look.

This is one of the worst major-studio literary adaptations ever, and I've given it a 1 rating because it deserves to be in the IMDb bottom 100--though in terms of (unintentionally hilarious) entertainment value I'd give it a 6. Maybe even an 8. I'm no huge fan of Hawthorne--his novels are pretty dry, dull and moralistic, like much pre-20th-century American lit--but his whole story is outrageously skewed here to suit Demi Moore's ego. She was at the top of her stardom then. This, "G.I. Jane" and "Striptease" pretty much destroyed that status--and all because each of them was wrecked by the need to flatter her so much. She needs to be the toughest yet most sensitive, sexiest yet most spiritual, etc. etc. person on screen--which would be OK if she were playing an action heroine or female superhero, but was disastrous for these particular stories. "G.I. Jane" could have been a gritty look at women's military life, "Striptease" has considerable sequences--all without Demi--where it's a very funny retro screwball comedy. But her humorless image-sculpting ruined both. Then there's "Scarlet Letter." Whoa. Roland Joffe is not a good director (despite having gotten praise for the fairly good "Killing Fields" and overrated "The Mission"--since then it's been all downhill). But the problem here is clearly that Demi wants to reshape Hester Prynne from Puritan victim of Puritanism into a hot ass-kicking, erotically supercharged mama who connects as a kindred soul with local Native Americans and hosts a sort of women's consciousness-raising/sewing group. In colonial New England. Uh-huh. I kinda love this movie--it's so slick yet incredibly wrongheaded, encouraging possibly the worst performances ever by some very good actors (Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall for starters), that it's frequently hilarious. It's one of those rare crazy monuments to a star's ego--at the expense of any fidelity or credibility--that results in an instant camp classic.