The Handmaid's Tale (1990)

Director:

Volker Schlöndorff

Writers (WGA):

Margaret Atwood (novel)
Harold Pinter (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 March 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

A haunting tale of sexuality in a country gone wrong.

Plot:

In a dystopicly polluted rightwing religious tyranny, a young woman is put in sexual slavery on account of her now rare fertility.

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Slavery | Fertility | Future | Birth

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Natasha Richardson	...	Kate / Offred
Faye Dunaway	...	Serena Joy
Aidan Quinn	...	Nick
Elizabeth McGovern	...	Moira
Victoria Tennant	...	Aunt Lydia
Robert Duvall	...	Commander
Blanche Baker	...	Ofglen
Traci Lind	...	Janine / Ofwarren
Zoey Wilson	...	Aunt Helena
Kathryn Doby	...	Aunt Elizabeth
Reiner Schöne	...	Luke (as Rainer Schoene)
Lucia Hartpeng	...	Cora
Karma Ibsen Riley	...	Aunt Sara
Lucile McIntyre	...	Rita
Gary Bullock	...	Officer on Bus
Allison Holmes	...	June
J. Michael Hunter	...	Preacher
Robert D. Raiford	...	Dick (as Robert Raiford)
Mirjam Bohnet	...	Alma
Julian Bell	...	TV Announcer #1 (as Julian E. Bell)
David Barnes	...	Guard
James A. Carleo III	...	Angel at Desk
Jim Grimshaw	...	Eye in Van
Ivan H. Migel	...	Eye
Doris Boggs	...	Aunt
Annemarie Fenske	...	Aunt Christina
Linda Pierce	...	Wife #2
Nina Lynn Blanton	...	Wife #3
Rhesa Reagan Stone	...	Mrs. Warren
Sara Seidman	...	Handmaid
Muse Watson	...	Guardian
Janell McLeod	...	Martha
Elke Ritschel	...	Hostess
Jane Learned	...	Nun
Randell Haynes	...	Condemned Man (as Randell Haynes)
Rhonda Bond	...	Black Woman
Mil Nicholson	...	Wardress
Robert Pentz	...	Guard #1
Tom McGovern	...	Guard #2
Danny Simpkins	...	Waiter
James Martin Jr.	...	Steve (as James G. Martin Jr.)
Stefanie J. Chen	...	Ofglen #2
Ed Grady	...	Old Man (as Ed. L. Grady)
Molly Sandick	...	Baby
Blair Struble	...	Jill (as Blair Nicole Struble)
Bill Owen	...	TV Announcer #2
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
David Dukes	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Rob McGowan	...	Street Worker (uncredited)

Directed by
Volker Schlöndorff

Writing credits (WGA)
Margaret Atwood		(novel)
Harold Pinter		(screenplay)

Produced by
Alex Gartner	....	associate producer
Wolfgang Glattes	....	executive producer
Gale Goldberg	....	associate producer
Eberhard Junkersdorf	....	co-producer
Daniel Wilson	....	producer

Original Music by
Ryûichi Sakamoto

Cinematography by
Igor Luther

Film Editing by
David Ray

Casting by
Pat Golden

Production Design by
Thomas A. Walsh		(as Tom Walsh)

Art Direction by
Gregory Melton

Set Decoration by
Jan Pascale

Costume Design by
Colleen Atwood		(as Coleen Atwood)

Makeup Department
Alan D'Angerio	....	hair stylist
Jeff Goodwin	....	makeup supervisor
Herita Jones	....	assistant makeup artist
Gerlinde Kunz	....	hair stylist: Ms. Dunaway
Gerlinde Kunz	....	makeup artist: Ms. Dunaway
Francesca Paris	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Wolfgang Glattes	....	unit production manager
Michael W. Stroud	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gabriela Bacher	....	assistant director
Gabriela Bacher	....	second unit director
Sally Brim	....	second assistant director
Tony Gittelson	....	first assistant director
Stephen A. Glanzrock	....	second second assistant director

Art Department
Kip Bartlett	....	swing gang
Nicholisa Camaioni	....	art department coordinator
Raymond Camaioni	....	construction coordinator (as Ray Camaioni)
Jeffrey Ellis	....	set builder
Jay Klein	....	set dresser
Roger Knight	....	assistant set dresser
Jack M. Marino	....	property master (as Jack Marino)
Randall Milazzo	....	lead man (as Randall R. Milazzo)
Aubrey Pettis	....	paint foreman
Mark Ricker	....	art department intern
Carole J. Sanders	....	props
John Sanders	....	assistant property master
Chris Santini	....	construction foreman (as Christopher Santini)
Linwood Taylor	....	set designer
Chris Theorin	....	swing gang
Joe Turner	....	set builder
Richard Whitney	....	stand-by painter
Stephen Woods	....	set builder

Sound Department
Peter R. Adam	....	sound effects editor
Diana Barry	....	apprentice sound editor
Ursula Busse	....	assistant sound editor
Martin Evans	....	dialogue editor
Harriet Fidlow	....	adr editor (as Harriet Fidlow Winn)
Tom Fleischman	....	sound re-recording mixer
Michael Jacobi	....	adr editor
Mel Kutbay	....	foley artist
Danny Michael	....	sound mixer
Isa Moeller	....	assistant sound editor
Douglas Murray	....	sound re-recordist (as Douglas L. Murray)
Jörn Poetzl	....	foley artist (as Joern Poetzl)
Nani Schumann	....	foley editor
Shari Schwartz	....	sound re-recordist (as Shari L. Schwartz)
Marc-Jon Sullivan	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Jeff McKay	....	assistant special effects
Tim Ward	....	special effects coordinator

Stunts
Richard E. Butler	....	stunts (as Dick Butler)
Scott Dale	....	stunts
Steve Kelso	....	stunt coordinator
Dean Mumford	....	stunts
Jim Wilkey	....	stunts
Gene Witham	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Mitchell Amundsen	....	camera operator
Bill Finger	....	second assistant camera (as William Finger)
Neal Mills Forney III	....	additional assistant camera
John Gardey	....	still photographer (as Jon Gardey)
Charley Gilleran	....	best boy grip
Mikael Glattes	....	first assistant camera
Frieder Hocheim	....	gaffer (as Frieder Hochhein)
Victor Korte	....	dolly grip
Ivan H. Migel	....	grip (as Ivan Migel)
John Perkinson	....	camera department trainee
Stephen Perry	....	electrician
York Phelps	....	grip
Alan Pickelsimer	....	electrician
Mark Smith	....	electrician
Gary H. Swink	....	best boy (as Gary Swink)
Thaddeus Wadleigh	....	key grip
Rick Whitfield	....	video playback operator
Elan Yaari	....	electrician

Casting Department
Craig Fincannon	....	local casting
Mark Fincannon	....	local casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Ursula Schrader	....	key costumer
Hartsell Taylor	....	assistant costumer
Kimberly von Brandenstein	....	assistant to costume designer

Editorial Department
Uta Draher-Reeg	....	apprentice editor
Marta Evry	....	assistant editor
Mark Ginsberg	....	color timer
Cara Silverman	....	first assistant editor

Music Department
Peter Afterman	....	music supervisor
Christopher Brooks	....	music editor
Robin Clarke	....	music editor
Jim Harrison	....	music editor
Norika Sky-Sora	....	assistant to composer
Dawn Soler	....	music project manager
Diane DeLouise Wessel	....	music supervisor (as Diane Wessel)

Transportation Department
J. Wesley Adams	....	transportation captain (as Wesley Adams)
Tyler C. Daum	....	picture car coordinator
Troy Flynn	....	driver: production van
Allan Hamilton	....	transportation coordinator
Jim Petti	....	transportation

Other crew
Jennifer Bartlett	....	conceptual advisor
Norwood Cheek	....	production assistant
Grady Cooper	....	production assistant
Jane Desmond	....	choreographer
Barbara Dickinson	....	choreographer
Tad Driscoll	....	accountant
Kate Eisemann	....	key production assistant
Mimi Goldman	....	accountant
Mary Lugo	....	unit publicist
Steven McAfee	....	production coordinator
Ingrid C. Michaels	....	production coordinator
Kate Miller	....	production assistant
Mamie Mitchell	....	script supervisor
Olivia Patton	....	production assistant
Jay Sedrish	....	accountant
Ron Servicky	....	assistant locations
Michael W. Stroud	....	location manager (as Michael Stroud)
Fred Styles	....	location manager
Robin Swid	....	production assistant
Jerry Whittington	....	location scout
Duane Williams	....	craft service
Brad Wilson	....	assistant: Robert Duvall
Jean S. Wollan	....	assistant to producer
David H. Kramer	....	adr loop group (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Bioskop Film
• Cinecom Entertainment Group
• Cinétudes Films
• Daniel Wilson Productions Inc.
• Master Partners
• Odyssey

Distributors

• Cinecom Pictures (1990) (USA) (theatrical)
• Phillips (1991) (Germany) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• AMLF (1990) (France) (theatrical)
• Neue Constantin Film (1990) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Transmundo Films (1990) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Virgin Vision (1990) (UK) (theatrical)
• Divisa Home Video (2008) (Spain) (DVD)
• Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (????) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Transmundo Home Video (THV) (1990) (Argentina) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Aquarius Transformations  sound transfers
• Fincannon & Associates  local casting
• GNP Crescendo Records  soundtrack
• Hollywood Rental Company  lighting and grip
• Kino Flow Inc.  lighting design
• Optical House, The  opticals
• Otto Nemenz International  camera equipment
• T.A.B. Inc.  negative matching

Also Known As:

Runtime:

109 min | USA:108 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:16 | Singapore:M18 | UK:15 (new rating) | New Zealand:R16 | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16 (bw)

Filming Locations:

Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Bioskop Film

Trivia:

The lead role of Kate was offered to Jodie Foster and Sigourney Weaver.

Goofs:

Continuity: The clock chimes 10 as Offred enters the Commander's office for the last time, but the clock seen on the wall behind her in the next few shots shows several minutes past 10 and in a close-up has gone back a few minutes.

Quotes:

Aunt Lydia:You are the lucky ones. You are going to serve God and country. I pronounce you handmaids.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Warrior of the Lost World (#6.1)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

I Don't Know Enought About You

Must See for Those Who Still Care About Women's Rights

Margaret Atwood, a Canadian novelist (and poet) wrote the dark fantasy novel on which this film is based. It is set in The Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States, or at least the parts of it that are not radioactive. The radioactive parts are called the colonies, where bad girls are sent to die of radiation poisoning. The time is the near future, after the inevitable nuclear war, and the breakdown of government as we know it.

The society depicted in The Handmaid's Tale is a nightmare: everyone is watched by the Eyes, unknowable, unseen government spies. Women are forbidden to have jobs. They are irrevocably assigned to classes. At the top are the chaste, but morally superior, Wives, almost all of whom have been rendered infertile by the inevitable unclear war. At the bottom are the housekeepers, or Marthas, who are non-entities. In the middle are the Handmaids of the title, who are fertile, but tightly controlled. The term Handmaid is a Biblical term that is used in the Old Testament stories of Abraham, Sarah, Jacob and Rachel. In the Bible, the wives gave their handmaids to their husbands in order to produce heirs.

Handmaids, in the film and the book, are forced to have sex with the Commanders, the husbands of the Wives. During this sex, the Wives are intimately present to take in any "love" their Commanders have to give.

The Handmaids are trained to remain unattached to the Commanders. They are prohibited from using makeup or doing anything to make themselves attractive. Handmaids are forced to turn their offspring over to the morally "fit" Wives.

Robert Duvall, a Commander in whose home Offred is placed, gives a family Bible reading performance that will curdle the blood of true people of faith. It is a breathtaking, heart-stopping performance.

The government is totalitarian and monotheistic. The one god is very strict, and has His Eyes everywhere.

Offred, who was once known as Kate, is a Handmaid who, despite her training (read brainwashing), recalls her past, her loving husband, and her adored daughter. She tells with sparkling, and terrifying clarity, how the society came to be the way it is.

This governmental aspect of the story is instructive, however, they are almost totally absent in the film.

Offred's/Kate's personal story is heartrending. It reminds one of the miseries of, say, the women of Darfur. When the government breaks down, she and her husband and daughter attempt to flee to Canada. Unfortunately, they are caught. Her daughter is "confiscated." Her husband is taken away. She never sees her husband again.

Offred's training is not as extensively portrayed in the film as it is in the book, but her feeling of terror and helplessness are palpable, in an exquisite performance by Natasha Richardson. Warning, blood is shown.

As we ride down the slippery slope toward the overturning of Roe v. Wade, this film is a must see for those who still care about women's rights.