This movie is a disappointment, on the whole. Robert Duvall and Faye Dunaway certainly help, but the acting, filming, and directing are generally amateurish. Elizabeth McGovern clearly is an actress who has (had?) possibilities, but she obviously needs good direction. It is a shame that this novel could not be better represented on film, as it is topical and becomes more so even in the year 2005, with the debates raging about separation of church and state and the power of the Christian Right in politics. Also, I think that more could be made of the scenes at "The Red Center." In Atwood's novel, much of the rationale for the establishment of this theocratic dystopia is given in the episodes of the novel where Offred is "trained" to be a Handmaid, but the film treats these scenes - and the characters of the "aunts" - in a ham-handed and clumsy way and, as a result, the movie's version of the story is bereft of some of its foundation.
Review of The Handmaid's Tale
