Search - The Handmaid's Tale on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Adult Language, Profanity Movie Release: 1990 DVD Release: 12/11/2001 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 49 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 30 Genres: Science Fiction, Feminist Film, Psychological Sci-Fi

In this dystopian fable, a librarian wife and mother becomes the childbearing pawn of a Christian theocracy. In the near future, as war rages across the fictional North American Republic of Gilead and pollution has rendered 99 percent of the female population sterile, Kate (Natasha Richardson) sees her husband killed and her daughter kidnapped while trying to escape across the border. Kate herself is transformed into a handmaid -- a surrogate mother for one of the privileged but barren couples who run the country's fundamentalist regime. Although she resists being indoctrinated into the bizarre cult of the handmaids, which mixes Old Testament orthodoxy and misogynist cant with 12-step gospel and ritualized violence, Kate soon finds herself ensconced at the home of the Commander (Robert Duvall) and his frosty wife, Serena Joy (Faye Dunaway). Forced to lie between Serena Joy's legs and be penetrated impersonally each month by the Commander, Kate longs for her vanished earlier life; she soon learns that since many of the nation's powerful men are as sterile as their wives, she may have to risk the punishment for fornication -- death by hanging -- in order to sleep with another man who can provide her with the pregnancy that has become her sole raison d’être. When that other man turns out to be Nick (Aidan Quinn), the Commander's handsome, sympathetic driver, Kate grows attached to him -- and eventually pregnant with his child. Only the mysterious rebel affiliations of her fellow handmaid, Ofglen (Blanche Baker), seem to offer any chance of giving her unborn child a life of freedom -- or finding the daughter she already lost. Loosely adapted by Harold Pinter from the novel by Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale also features Elizabeth McGovern in a small but pivotal role as Moira, a "gender traitor" who befriends Kate at the handmaids' reprogramming center. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Natasha Richardson - Kate
Robert Duvall - Commander
Faye Dunaway - Serena Joy
Aidan Quinn - Nick
Elizabeth McGovern - Moira

Adapted by Harold Pinter from Margaret Atwood's prize-winning novel, The Handmaid's Tale is a chilling humanistic science fiction fable set in a not-too-distant future where evangelism has taken deep root. Dystopian science fiction films are nothing new, but here director Volker Schlondorff (who made the equally nightmarish The Tin Drum) plays down the genre's preponderance for flash and dazzle (at lease when it comes to films), opting for character and story instead. The film was virtually ignored when originally released in 1990, so this DVD release is a perfect opportunity for a new life. MGM Home Entertainment's disc looks fantastic, offering up the film in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 (enhanced). The transfer is excellent and nicely shows off the frequent use of red in the color palette. The use of red is as symbolic as Bergman's use of it for his masterpiece Cries and Whispers. And though this film in no way reaches the sublime heights of Bergman's classic, it nevertheless utilizes color as subtext in an interesting manner. The disc has been given an English stereo surround track as well, and multiple subtitle options. The film's original theatrical trailer has also been included. ~ Derek Hill, All Movie Guide