Moll Flanders (1996)

The daughter of a thief, young Moll is placed in the care of a nunnery after the execution of her mother. However, the actions of an abusive priest lead Moll to rebel as a teenager, ... See full summary »

Director:

Pen Densham

Writers:

Daniel Defoe (character from novel), Pen Densham (screen story)

Stars:

Robin Wright, Morgan Freeman, Stockard Channing

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robin Wright	...	Moll Flanders
Morgan Freeman	...	Hibble
Stockard Channing	...	Mrs. Allworthy
John Lynch	...	Artist
Brenda Fricker	...	Mrs. Mazzawatti
Geraldine James	...	Edna
Aisling Corcoran	...	Flora
Jim Sheridan	...	The Priest
Jeremy Brett	...	Artist's Father
Britta Smith	...	Artist's Mother
Cathy Murphy	...	Polly
Emma McIvor	...	Mary
Maria Doyle Kennedy	...	Alice
Ger Ryan	...	Orphanage Woman
Harry Towb	...	Magistrate

Storyline

The daughter of a thief, young Moll is placed in the care of a nunnery after the execution of her mother. However, the actions of an abusive priest lead Moll to rebel as a teenager, escaping to the dangerous streets of London. Further misfortunes drive her to accept a job as a prostitute from the conniving Mrs. Allworthy. It is there that Moll first meets Hibble, who is working as Allworthy's servant but takes a special interest in the young woman's well-being. With his help, she retains hope for the future, ultimately falling in love with an unconventional artist who promises the possibility of romantic happiness.

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Plot Keywords:

lust | priest | prostitute | painter | pregnancy | 

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Taglines:

The remarkable story of one woman's unbreakable spirit.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, nudity and sex-related material

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 June 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

I istoria mias gynaikas

Filming Locations:

St. Audoen's Church, Cornmarket, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$955,606, 16 June 1996, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$3,363,968, 21 July 1996

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM),Spelling Films,Trilogy Entertainment Group

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital Stereo (QSound) SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jeremy Brett's last film.

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Goofs

Mrs. Allworthy puts lip rouge and a beauty mark on Moll. Moll wipes off the lip rouge walking down the stairs but not the beauty mark. When we next see her face, the beauty mark is gone.

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Quotes

Artist: I found my creation in you. It's life. God is love, Moll. Love is God.

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Connections

Version of The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Moll Flanders (1996)

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Soundtracks

Full of Grace
Written by Sarah McLachlan
Performed by Sarah McLachlan
Produced by Pierre Marchand
Courtesy of Nettwerk Productions & Arista Records

User Reviews

Bah!

Yet again Hollywood takes a literary classic and entirely reworks it. "The daughter of a thief, young Moll is placed in the care of a nunnery after the execution of her mother. However, the actions of an abusive priest lead Moll to rebel as a teenager, escaping to the dangerous streets of London." No, this doesn't happen at all. The novel she is handed off to family when her mother is sent to plantations a much more common sentence for criminals at that time when their crime was petty. Further when she was given to family of her mother she then made her way in to the hands of gypsies before being found in Colchester having run off and being taken in by the local Parish. Not "the streets of London" right off the bat. Completely different tone, I understand the need to revise a work for the screen as it may be unworkable from it's original form but this is just an example of another movie where they've reworked the material needlessly and changed the subject matter much to the detriment of the work making the character much more sympathetic. Sad thing is it's a habit of Hollywood that will surely not change.