The Handmaid's Tale (film)
| The Handmaid's Tale | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Volker Schlöndorff |
| Produced by | Daniel Wilson |
| Screenplay by | Harold Pinter |
| Based on |
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Ryuichi Sakamoto |
| Cinematography | Igor Luther |
| Edited by | David Ray |
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Release date
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Running time
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109 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13,000,000 |
| Box office | $4,960,385 |
The Handmaid's Tale is a 1990 film adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name. Directed by Volker Schlöndorff, the film stars Natasha Richardson (Kate/Offred), Faye Dunaway (Serena Joy), Robert Duvall (The Commander, Fred), Aidan Quinn (Nick), and Elizabeth McGovern (Moira). The screenplay was written by Harold Pinter. The original music score was composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto. MGM Home Entertainment released an Avant-Garde Cinema DVD of the film in 2001. The film was entered into the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.
In the near future, war rages across the fictional Republic of Gilead and pollution has rendered 99% of the population sterile. Kate is a woman who attempts to emigrate to Canada with her husband and daughter. As they take a dirt road, the Gilead Border Guard order them to turn back or they will open fire. Kate's husband uses an automatic rifle to draw the fire, telling Kate to run, but he gets shot. Kate gets captured, whilst their daughter wanders off into the backcountry, confused and unaccompanied. The authorities take Kate to a training facility with several other women, where she and her companions receive training to become Handmaids - concubines for one of the privileged but barren couples who run the country's religious fundamentalist regime. Although she resists being indoctrinated into the cult of the Handmaids, which mixes Old-Testament orthodoxy with 12-step gospel [?] scripted group chanting and ritualized violence, Kate is soon assigned to the home of "the Commander" (Fred) and of his cold, inflexible wife, Serena Joy. There she is named "Offred" - "of Fred".
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