4 February 2019
Der scharlachrote buchstabe (The Scarlet Letter) 1973
- Director: Wim Wenders
- Based on the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Cast: Senta Berger, Lou Castel, Hans Christian Blech, Yella Rottländer
- Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
- None of them
- Why? The novel
- Seen: 2 February 2019 with Hal and YW in our read-book-see-film group (this was an odd choice of film version but we’re curious!)
An American classic – one of the best ever – in German, by WW no less, with Swedish subtitles. Well, this will be interesting.
Or?
Hester Prynn may have been beautiful, but I doubt she wore glitter eyeshadow, mascara, and lip gloss.
No. No. No. This doesn’t work. While the novel built up slowly and dramatically with great deepening of character, this movie is just slow. They all move like they’re sleepwalking, and their lines are spoken woodenly except for the slimy smiley Dimmesdale. The strongest scene in the novel, the forest scene, is here reduced to two lines on a veranda and a little bit on a rocky shore.
Did Wenders even bother to read the book?
The scenery is pretty, and the filming is nice. YW notes that it all looks like a Dutch painting. But that’s about all that can be said for it. Why did Wenders make this film? Did he have a point? If so, none of us saw it.
0 * of 5 We all agree
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